
3AINT CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 






LIFE 

OF 

SAINT CATHARINE 

OIF SIEIsT^ST-Au- 

BY THE BLESSED RAYMOND OF CAPUA, HER CONFESSOR. 

WITH AN APPENDIX: 



OONTAININQ THE TESTIMONIES OF HER DISCIPLES, RECOLLECTIONS IN ITALY, AND HER 
ICONOGRAPHY. 

By E. CARTIEK. 



ExKnslnUti from if^t JTrenc^ bg t^t EatJtejs of ttje Sacreli ?^eart. 



WITH THE APPROBATION OF THE 

RIGHT REV. BISHOP OF PHILADELPHIA. 



"^s- 



PHILADELPHIA: 

PETER F. CUNNINGHAM, Catholic Bookseller. 
216 South Third Street. 

1860. 






Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by 

PETER F. CUNNINGHAM, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of 



Pennsylvania. 



CONTENTS. 

Preface to the American Edition, - - - 5 

Preface to the French Edition, - - - - 11 

Prologue, ------ 19 

FIKST PART. 

Chapter 1. — Of Catharine's parents and their worldly con- 
dition, - - - - - 22 

Chapter 2. — Birth of Catharine — Her Infancy — Wonderful 

circumstances that take place, - - 25 

Chapter 3. — Of Catharine's Vow of Virgiuity, and a cir- 
cumstance of her early years, - - 30 

Chapter 4. — Of a relaxation of fervor, which God permitted 
in order to augment her grace, and of the 
great patience of Catherine in supporting 
persecutions for the love of Jesus Christ, 33 

Chapter 5. — Her austere penances, and the persecutions of 

her Mother, - - - - - 43 

Chapter 6. — Of her self-conquest at the Baths, and her 
clothing with the Holy Habit of St. Domi- 
nic. - - - - - - 49 

Chapter 7. — Of the origin and establishment of the ** Sis- 
ters of Penance " of St. Dominic, and of 
their mode of life. - - - - 54 

Chapter 8. — Of Catharine's admirable progress in the ways 
of God, and of some particular graces she 
received, - - . - - 57 

Chapter 9. — Of the admirable doctrines taught her by our 
Lord, and which she adopted as her rule of 
life, - - - - - - 63 

Chapter 10. — Of the admirable victories which she gained 
over temptations, and her extraordinary 
intimacy with our Lord. - - - 67 

Chapter 11. — Of the marriage with our Lord, and of the 

miraculous ring that she received, - - 75 

(in) 



IV CONTENTS. 

SECOND FAST. 

Chapter 1. — Our Lord commands Catharine to employ 

herself for the good of her neighbor, - 78 

Chapter 2. — Of some wonderful things that occurred at 
the commencement of Catharine's rela- 
tions with the world, and of her exertions 
in supplying the necessities of the poor. - 83 

Chapter 3. — Of the wonderful things Catharine performed 

when serving the sick. - - - 93 

Chapter 4. — Of her manner of living and of the re- 
proaches which were made her concerning 
her complete abstinence, - - - 111 

Chapter 5. — Of Catharine's wonderful ecstasies and of 
the great revelations which she received 
from God. 123 

Chapter 6. — Of miracles wrought by Catharine's inter- 
cession for promoting the salvation of 
souls, .... - 155 

Chapter 7. — Of some miracles obtained by Catharine for 

the life or health of the neighbor, - - 175 

Chapter 8. — Of miracles performed by Catharine for de- 
livering such as are possessed by the 
Devil, - - - - - 194 

Chapter 9. — Of Catharine's gift of Prophecy and in what 
manner she delivered several persons from 
danger which threatened their souls and 
bodies, - - - - - 203 

Chapter 10. — Of the miracles our Lord produced, by 

means of Catharine, on things inanimate, 217 

Chapter 11 — Of Catharine's frequent communions, and 
of the miracles produced by Almighty 
God, for her, relative to the Holy 
Eucharist and the relics of the Saints, 228 

THIRD PART. 

Chapter 1. — Concerning the witnesses present at Catha- 
rine's death, and who related the atten- 
dant circumstances to the Author, - - 244 

Chapter 2. — Of circumstances which happened a year 
and a half before the death of the Blessed 
Catharine, and of the martyrdom that 
Satan caused her to undergo, - - 256 



CONTENTS. ▼ 

Chbpteb 3. — How ardently Blessed Catharine sighed to be 
delivered from the body and be united to 
Christ. - - - - - 261 

Chapter 4 — Of the death of St. Catharine, and of tne 
recommendations proposed to her spiritual 
€ons and daughters in her dying moments, 269 

Chapter 5. — Some prodigies and miracles which the Lord 
accomplished after Catharine's death, by 
her intercession, - - - - 284 

Chapter 6. — Of the great patience that Catharine mani- 
fested in all her actions from infancy un- 
til her death. This Chaper will be a sort 
of condensed statement of her whole life. 293 

APPENDIX. 

Testimony of the Disciples of St. Catharine, - - 315 

Friar Bartholomew of Ferrare - - - 319 
Friar Thomas of Sienna, ----- 324 

Friar Bartholomew of Sienna, - - - - 343 

Barduccio di. P. Canigiani, - - - - 365 

Letter of the Blessed Etienne Maconi, - - 377 

Dom Bartholomew of Ravenna, - - - - 393 

Bull of Pius IL, for the Canonization of St. Catharine 396 

Recollections of St. Catharine in Italy, - - 410 

Iconography of St. Catharine, - - - - 425 



t. 



PROTESTATION. 

In obedience to the decrees of Urban VIII. , I protest that of 
the miraculous deeds and gifts ascribed in this work to certain 
servants of God, a,nd not already approved by the holy See, I 
claim no other belief than that which is ordinarily given to his- 
tory resting on mere human authority, and that in giving the 
appellation of Saint or Blessed to any person not canonized or 
beatified by the Church, I only intend to do it according to the 
usage and opinion of men. 



^rrfare k l^t Imerttan (BMllnn. 



The providence of God in the government of the world, but 
especially the divine economy with regard to the children of 
his Church, is best learned from the study of the lives of His 
faithful servants. The world, with its own views, and means, 
and end, being always antagonistic to the spirit of God, must not 
be taken as a standard or as a testimony of God's providence to- 
wards his people. The Apostle St. Paul warns us ** not to be 
conformed to the world," and St. James urges the motive ** that 
the world is the enemy of God." Profane history even, is often 
elucidated by this principle, whilst its light is almost always 
necessary to follow correctly the path which sacred or ecclesias- 
tical history points out. 

The life of St. Catharine of Sienna by the Blessed Raymond y 
of Capua, is now, for the first time, presented 'to the American 
reader in the English language. Its perusal will, at times, be 
sustained with interest by remembering the time, and circum- 
stances in which that wonderful woman lived and acted. And 
it is not unlikely that the reader, may perchance, become 
startled at some of the facts narrated by her biographer. A 
closer acquaintance, however, with the history of the times in 
which she lived, and the circumstances in which she acted, and 
by which, we may say, her conduct and history became a portion 
of the history of the Church, will, in a great degree verify her 
actions, by revealing the providence of God, in the government 

of the Church. 

(vii ) 



Till PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 

The commencement of the fourteenth century saw the Church 
surrounded by difficulties, at once the consequence and 
source of many evils. The wild ambition of Princes, and the 
lawlessness arising from habitual warfare, which then disturbed 
the heart of Christendom, exercised an unhappy influence 
on the interests and possessions of the Church. Men of worldly 
views, either themselves desired, or by the interests of their 
families were urged to seek, preferment in the Church ; and the 
records of that period but too frequently exhibit the sad and 
fatal consequences. The spirit of the world had, in many in- 
stances, stained the holiness of the Sanctuary : and the virtues 
of ecclesiastics were diminished or destroyed by the dangerous 
contact with worldly interests. Amidst the conflict of such oppos- 
ing elements it is not to be wondered that a wily and ambitious 
Prince, conceived the idea, and was enabled to carry it into ex- 
ecution, of transferring the venerable See of Peter from Rome to 
Avignon. 

It was during this melancholy and eventful period of the 
Church, whilst the seventy years captivity of the Roman Pon- 
tiffs was being endured, that a simple daughter of a wool dyer, 
was practising in the retirement of her father's house, virtues 
of self-denial and penance that were, one day, to manifest the 
sublime power of prayer and enlighten even the councils of the 
Princes of the Church. That St. Catharine was raised up a 
simple and uneducated female, to confound the wisdom and direct 
the actions of those to whom God confided higher destinies need 
not, now, be doubted. Nor does the divine economy require that 
the guidance of the bark of Peter should not be directed by the 
holy and required warnings of a saintly woman. Her prudence 
and persevering energy in reconciling the Florentines with the 
Sovereign Pontiff, induced the devoted Urban VI., to seek, and 
in essential political arrangements, to adopt the salutary counsel 



PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. ix 

of St. Catharine ; and the restoration to the Holy City of the resi- 
dence of the Papacy in his person, and by the continuation of his 
successors, may in no small degree justify the assertion, that to 
the inspired wisdom of the wool dyer's daughter, Rome was in- 
debted for the return and perpetuity of the successors of St. Peter. 

A word may here be said regarding her biographer, the 
Blessed Raymond of Capua. Ample opportunity was afforded 
him, for years, as her Confessor, to become acquainted not only 
with her actions and mode of thinking, but also of most perfectly 
understanding her motives, and the sincerity of her conduct. He 
was himself, moreover a man of sober thought, of respectable 
theological knowledge, and of no rash and precipitate judgment. 
His frequent reference to the testimony of living witnesses and 
his own not unfrequent difficulty of belief, sufficiently testify his 
appreciation of the responsibility he was assuming in narrating 
facts open to the doubts and startling to the faith of many. It 
was beside mainly from the facts mentioned by him, and by 
reference to the testimony which he so often, and so urgently 
quoted, that the act of her Canonization was produced. That he 
states many things of a most wonderful character upon the sole 
testimony or conviction of St. Catharine is true, but matters 
though bearing strong interior evidence of their truth, by no 
means constitute subjects of divine faith, and may be taken or 
set aside, as their evidence will appear sustainable or otherwise 
to the judgment of the reader. And yet, perhaps, it would 
savor of rashness, if not of deep presumption to reject as un- 
founded, facts that have been thought worthy of credit by many 
wise and prudent men, possessing means of forming judgment 
which are not now at our command 

The pious reader will find in her life much to console and 
strengthen his conviction, that the providence of God deals 
wonderfully in his Church, with the actions and integrity of her 



X PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 

children, whilst the less credulous may discover some difficulty 
in rejecting consequences which correctly flow from facts sus- 
tained by respectable testimony. No one however is required 
to give to purely historical facts a credence beyond that demanded 
by merely human testimony, and even the more timid will be 
shielded by the remark of the learned and critical De Feller, in 
his Historical Dictionary, speaking of St. Catharine, that ** The 
canonization of the Saints does not ratify either their 
opinions or their revelations," and he quotes the remark of 
Gregory the Grreat, ** That Saints the most favored by God fre- 
quently deceived themselves, by mistaking for a divine light, 
that which was merely the effect of the activity of the human 
soul." St. Jerome well remarks upon this point, *^That they are 
nevertheless the effect of a piety to be always much respected, 
both in its principle and in its object." 

The confidence extended, both in Italy and France, to this life 
of St. Catharine, should recommend it to the English reader ; 
and the fact that the venerable author has already received from 
the Church the title of Blessed testifies that the pages of the 
volume are free from serious or obnoxious doctrines. 

J. P. D. 



pdm In t[je /reurti (BMm, 



One of our most dearly cherished hopes, is that of be- 
holding Science consecrated to the glory of Him, who is 
its life and light, — an historical edifice of which Divine 
Providence has disposed the elements from the beginning, 
God himself having traced its plan, and immortal Truth 
fashioned its immoveable foundations. Every age, and 
every people will be represented ; each exterior or interior 
stone will be a name or an event placed with order and 
with justice. Those deeply obscure beginnings, those 
different tongues and defined nationalities, those rapid 
revolutions, those elevations and those falls, so unforeseen, 
will appear in magnificent unity and the Church taking 
possession of that temple which Science will have prepared 
for her, will give within it a last and most solemn lesson 
to man. 

The materials of that majestic edifice are already pre- 
paring throughout the world. God, like Solomon, em- 
ploys on it foreign hands ; the workmen of Tyre and 
Sidon, though far distant, carve the stones and cut the 
cedars. The Protestant and the unbeliever draw forth 
from the heart of ages past, the most precious metals 
and daily present to knowledge the admirable fruits of 
their criticism and their studious labors. Historical 
studies have never been so active or so complete. Every 

Cll) 



12 PREFACE TO THE FRENCH EDITION. 

ruin is explored, all monuments are studied, traditions 
are interrogated, inscriptions are deciphered ; Asia con- 
ceals not her doctrines, Egypt explains her mysteries, 
and Nineveh opens to our inspection the annals and gigan- 
tic remains of her civilization. 

Man, in presence of these wrecks of ages and of empires, 
inquires what power produced those resolutions, and vivi- 
fied that dust ; he perceives that doctrines animated 
those people and fashioned those monuments, and he dis- 
covers in their relation with truth, the causes of their 
grandeur and their decay. Then, beyond time, appears 
to him Eternity in which God reigns and governs all 
things. Life, light and power emanate from his throne, 
and the Church distributes them to intelligent creatures. 
All those laws written and effaced, those forms of govern- 
ment that are modified, those dynasties which pass, are 
exterior phenomena which have profound causes. The 
inner life of humanity is in Religion and her saints are 
the true princes of the world. Providence gives them 
to mankind according to its necessities, and charges them 
with the execution of its will. Hence they occupy an 
important place in the field of history, and whosoever 
wishes to explain events, without considering their 
agency, will necessarily fall into grave errors. 

Saint Catharine of Sienna was to the fourteenth cen- 
tury, what St. Bernard was to the twelfth ; that is, the 
light and support of the Church. At the moment in 
which the bark of St. Peter is most strongly agitated by 
the tempest, God gives it for pilot a poor young girl 
who conceals herself in the poor shop of a Dyer. Cath- 
arine sets foot in the territory of Prance, to lead the 
Sovereign Pontiff Gregory XI. from the delights of his 
native land ; she brings the Popes from Avignon to the 



PREFACE TO THE FRENCH EDITION. 13 

tomb of the Apostles, the real centre of Christianity. 
Her zeal is inflamed at the view of the disorders which are 
preparing the great schism of the West, and she displays 
an extraordinary activity in order to avert it. She ad- 
dresses herself to cardinals, princes and kings ; she 
negotiates peace between the nations and the Holy See, 
brings back to God a multitude of souls, and communi- 
cates by her teaching and examples a new vigor to those 
great Religious Orders which are the living, vibrating 
pulse of the Church. Urban YI. claims her counsels; 
she hastens to Rome, sustains by her word the Sacred 
College, alarmed by the threatening storm ; and in pre- 
sence of the evils which overturn the heritage of Christ, 
she offers herself to God as a victim, and terminates her 
sacrifice, at thirty-three years of age, by a painful martyr- 
dom. 

To V)rite the life of St. Catharine was a task beyond 
our strength ; but God who watches over his own glory, 
has preserved all the documents that justify that great 
historical miracle, and we have only filled the part of 
translator. Instead of judging of facts through the pre- 
judices of our time, and thus tinging them perhaps with 
a false and fading hue, we have been so happy as to meet 
with a contemporary author who describes them with 
incontestable fidelity. The life of St. Catharine by the 
Blessed Raymond of Capua, her confessor, is a work that 
may be compared to those churches of the middle ages, 
which charm us as much by their general harmony, as by 
the richness of their details. The soul reposes within, 
far from the contests of the world ; she is sensible too 
of the presence of God which invites her to prayer, and 
excites her to become better. We had besides another 
motive for selecting this book, which we are happy to 

2 



14 PREFACE TO THE FRENCH EDITION. 

make known. The Sovereign Pontiff, Pius IX., condes- 
cended himself, to name it for our ^'Dominican Libra- 
ry ^^^ and we were delighted to follow an indication so 
paternal and so august. 

The Blessed Raymond of Capua presents the most 
precious qualites that could be united in a historian. He 
is not a simple and credulous man whose imagination can 
be easily seduced, but a Religious of profound knowledge 
and renowned sanctity, who relates to the Church what 
he saw and heard ; and he does it with all the conditions 
which oblige his testimony to be accepted. A descend- 
ant of the celebrated Pierre des Yignes, Chancellor of 
Frederick II., he employed eminently better than his 
ancestor, the activity of his mind and the splendor of his 
talents. Entering betimes into the Order of St. Dominic, 
he exercised its most important offices. After directing 
during four years, the Monastry of Montepulciano, he be- 
came Professor of Theology at Sienna, and was the Confes- 
sor of St. Catharine, whom he accompanied in her journies 
to France and Italy. Urban VI., confided to him the 
most delicate and the most difficult affairs. In 1380, he 
was named General Master of his order which he governed 
during nineteen years. Schism and plague had enfeebled 
the children of St. Dominic ; the Blessed Raymond 
restored its ancient vigor, and it was under his agency 
that was developed in the Order of Friar Preachers, that 
epoch so fruitful in virtues and talent. The blessed Jean 
de Dominici, Antoine Neyrot, Constant de Fabriano, 
Pierre Capucci, Saint Antonino, Fra Angelico, Fra 
Benedetto, are sons of that reform which he established 
in the convents of Lombardy, Tuscany, Sicily, Hungary, 
Germany, Spain and France. He died in the midst of 
his work, in 1399, at Nuremburg, and his body was 



PREFACE TO THE FRENCH EDITION. 16 

transported to Naples, — where it now reposes amid 
the splendors of the church of St. Dominic. 

The fatigues of his apostolate, did not prevent him 
from leaving precious writings behind him. Besides the 
life of St. Agnes of Montepulciano and that of St. 
Catharine, he translated into Latin, the spiritual treatises 
of her of whom he was at once the Confessor and Disci- 
ple. He composed an admirable commentary on the 
Magnificat^ the Ofi&ce of the Festival of the Visitation, 
a treatise on reform, and a great number of very remark- 
able letters.* All his cotemporaries laud his science and 
his virtues ; the Sovereign Pontiffs wished to raise him to 
the highest dignities of the Church, but his humility op- 
posed it. Urban VI. in the briefs which he addresses to 
him, styles him his head, eyes, and mouth, his feet and 
his hands j he claims for him the veneration of the Empe- 
ror, of kings, cardinals and people. 

This is the eminent man whom God promises for Con- 
fessor to Catharine, as a special favor ; he becomes the 
witness of her life, and the depositary of all the secrets 
of her soul ; he writes what he saw, and what he heard ; 
he addresses himself to those who could be capable of 
contradicting him and carefully discusses the facts which 
he relates ; he confesses his constant hesitations and all 
the means that he adopts in order not to be deceived. 
He requests, through the intercession of her whom he 
fears to be an illusion, an extraordinary contrition for 
his sins ; and when he has obtained that abundance 
of tears which the spirit of darkness can never bestow, 
he still doubts ; then he meets on the countenance of 
Catharine, the threatening looks of our Lord himself. 

*Ecliard. Scriptores ord. prced. 1 v, p. 680. 



16 PREFACE TO THE FRENCH EDITION. 

The manner in which he exposes the miraculous absti- 
nence of Catherine, her spirit of prophecy, and her fre 
quent communions, shows that he brings to the examina- 
tion of the facts all the lights of theology, and all the 
guarantees of prudence. In fine there is in the recital, 
such a simplicity of language, such an evidence of sincer- 
ity, that it seems impossible not to believe in his testimony; 
God will never allow falsehood thus to assume the garb 
of truth. 

The life of St. Catharine, written by the Blessed Ray- 
mond, has been confirmed by all the depositions of his 
cotemporaries ; it has served as the basis of the process 
of cononization, and the bull of Pius II. recalls its most 
extraordinary facts. We will not, therefore, discuss the 
doubts that might be conceived by a timid faith. The 
miracles are proved by testimony, and as soon as the 
Church admits them, we believe them as easily as the 
most simple phenomena of nature ; they emanate from 
the same infinite power. 

It may perhaps be found that the Blessed Raymond 
does not sufficiently bring forward the social action of St. 
Catharine. It is true that he scarcely speaks of it ; he 
shows it rather in its principle than in its effects. Saints 
are not statesmen who draw their plans in form and com- 
bine their means. They act under the immediate direc- 
tion of God, and have no other policy than his Provi- 
dence. Prayer, word and example render them powerful 
in heaven and on earth. They triumph over justice itself 
and change its most vigorous decrees into treasures of 
mercy. It was thus that St. Catharine influenced the 
events of her time. 

After having made known Saint Catharine in the verity 
of her life, we hope to cause her to be admired in the 



PREFACE TO THE FRENCH EDITION. IT 

beauty of her doctrine, and in the greatness of her action. 
If God permit, we shall give to the public her spiritual 
dialogues, which contain the sublimity of her teaching, 
and her letters which will lead to the comprehension of 
her extended power. 

Our translation has been taken from the text of the 
Bollandists. We have striven to preserve the simple and 
poetic form of the recital ; at the risk of being prolix, 
we would not retrench any fact, nor any pious reflection. 
We have given but one of the author's prologues, the 
other appeared useless to us, and indeed not in harmony 
with the work. We have preferred adding to the narra- 
tive of the Blessed Raymond, the testimonies of other 
disciples of St, Catharine, who were summoned to depose 
before the Bishop of Venice.* 

The Dominicans were accused of celebrating the feast 
of St. Catharine before the decision of the Holy See. 
They explain triumphantly the honors that they rendered 
to her memory, and the documents of the processes, that 
God permitted for the glory of his Spouse, to be used in 
her canonization. 

In fine, desiring to render our work more complete, we 
resolved before terminating the impression of this volume, 
to see Italy again, and the localities consecrated by the 
presence of our beloved Saint. We have followed her 
footsteps to Rome, to Sienna, to Florence and to Pisa; 
we there venerated her relics and her memory ; we sought 
in the ancient monuments of Christian art, the tradition 



■^We have translated by **Eveque de Venise," the title of 
Episcopus Castellensis. Castello is one of the quarters of Venice^ 
of which the Bishop of the City took the title j until the extinction 
of the Patriarchs of Grade j their metropolitans. 



18 PREFACE TO THE FRENCH EDITION. 

of her portrait, and we offer to those who desire to know 
them, the result of our studies and of our pilgrimage. 

We dedicate this volume to our Brethren and Sisters 
of the third Order of St. Dominic, who have, in France, 
chosen St. Catharine for their patroness. May the exam- 
ples and teachings of that great Saint, develop in our 
hearts the love of the Church which inflamed her burning 
heart 1 May France by her devotedness to the Holy 
See, ever merit to be blest among the nations 1 

Sienna, April 29t/i, 1853. 



LIFE OF 



PROLOGUE. 



David, the prophet of Christ, son of Isai, the sweet 
singer of Israel, said, when speaking of the coming of 
the Messiah: ''Let these things be written unto another 
generation ; and the people that shall be created, shall 
praise the Lord.'' The holy man Job, desiring to an- 
nounce the Resurrection, exclaimed: ''Who will grant 
that my words may be written ? Who will grant me that 
they may be marked down in a book? with an iron pen 
and in a plate of lead, or else be graven with an instru- 
ment in flint-stone?" These passages of Holy Writ 
prove to us that whatever can glorify God and edify men, 
ought not to be related in one age and in one locality, 
but should be written down and taught to those who live, 
or who will live hereafter. Solomon said, Generatio 
prceterit et generatio advenitj (Eccl. i. 4,) One genera- 
tion goeth, and another cometh. It is not just that one 
generation should alone possess what may be useful to 
all, and that the works of divine wisdom, which are 
worthy of never-ending praise, should obtain a transient 
eulogium. Moses also wrote of the beginning of Crea- 
tion and the history of the human race until his own 

(19 ) 



20 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

epoch ; Samuel, Esdras and the other prophets continued 
his sacred recitals, and we religiously preserve their 
sacred words. The Evangelists are, by their dignity, 
entitled to the first rank among historians ; not only did 
they announce the word of God, but they preserved and 
fixed it by committing it to writing ; and a great voice 
said to one of them : Quod rides j scribe in librOj What 
thou seest write in a book. (Apoc. i. 11.) 

I, therefore, brother Raymond of Capua, called in the 
world Delia Vigne, humble master and servant of the 
order of Friar Preachers^ in the justifiable astonishment, 
excited by the wonders I have seen and heard, am 
resolved to write, (after having proposed them with the 
living voice to the admiration of the faithful,) the deeds 
of a holy virgin, named Catharine, to whom Sienna, a 
city of Tuscany, gave birth. The present age as well as 
future ages, on becoming acquainted with the prodigies 
that Almighty God produced through this woman, must 
praise him in his Saints, and bless him according to the 
multitude of his great works, and excite themselves to 
loving him with all their strength and above all things, 
as well as to serve him interiorly and exteriorly without 
ceasing. 

I assure all the readers of this book, in presence of the 
God of truth, that there is in my narrative neither fiction 
nor falsehood, and that the facts are as faithfully reported 
as my weakness would allow. In order to satisfy even 
the least credulous, I will cite, in the different Chapters, 
the witnesses of what I relate ; and it will be clearly 
seen from what source I have drawn what I offer to 
refresh the soul. And as I purpose doing all in the 
name of the adorable Trinity, I have divided the book 
into three parts. The first will contain the birth, infancy 



21 LIPE OP ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

and youth of Catharine, until the mystic nuptials with 
our blessed Lord. The second^ her relations with the 
world from that period uiitil her happy death ; the third, 
the latter days of her life and the miracles which accom- 
panied and succeeded her death. I do not pretend to tell 
all ; it would not only make too voluminous a work, but 
my lifetime would not suffice for its accomplishment. 
May God allow me the privilege of accomplishing this 
task, and others that I purpose concerning her doctrine 
and devotions to the glory of the ever blessed Trinity, to 
whom be all the glory now and forever more. Amen, 



I 



FIRST PART. 



CHAPTER I. 

OP Catharine's parents and their worldly condition. 

There lived iu the city of Sienna, in Tuscany, a man 
named Jacomo, who was descended from the family of 
the Benencasa, a man simple, loyal, fearing God, and 
separated from every vice. After losing his parents he 
married a countrywoman called Lapa. This woman had 
none of the defects so common at the present day ; she 
was industrious, prudent, well-versed in domestic affairs, 
and as she still lives, those who are acquainted with her 
may still render her this precious testimony. The good 
couple dwelt peaceably together, and although of the 
humbler class, they possessed a certain position among 
their fellow-citizens, and besides enjoyed a considerable 
fortune for their rank. God blessed them with a numer- 
ous offspring which they reared in the ways of eminent 
virtue. 

As Jacomo has, as we have every reason to believe, 
gone to the abodes of the blest, I can with propriety 
make his eulogium here. Lapa has assured me that he 
was so mild and moderate in his words that he never gave 
way to anger, notwithstanding the numerous occasions 
which might have led him to do so ; and whenever he 
saw any member of his household becoming vexed and 
speaking with violence, he would try to calm the person, 

C22) 



CATHARINE'S PARENTS. 23 

saying cheerfuLy, ''Now, now, do not say anything 
wrong, so that God may grant you his blessing.'' On 
one occasion a fellow-citizen had injured him very con- 
siderably, by claiming a sum of money from him unjustly, 
and employing the influence of his friends, and falsehood 
also to bring about the ruin of poor Jacomo. Still he 
would not hear his enemy spoken of in any way that 
could detract from him, and as Lapa thought it no fault 
he gently reproved her; saying, ''let him alone, dear, 
let him alone, and God will bless you ; he will show him 
his error, and will become our defence." This soon 
took place ; the truth was discovered almost miraculously ; 
the guilty man was condemned and acknowledged the 
injustice of his persecutions. 

The testimony of Lapa is above suspicion ; all who 
are acquainted with her will easily credit her ; she is an 
octogenarian, and is so simple that even would she, 
she could not invent anything false. The friends of 
Jacomo can also testify to his simplicity, uprightness and 
virtue ; he was so reserved in his speech that his family, 
especially the female portion of it, could not support the 
least irregularity in conversation. One of his daughters 
named Bonaventura, had married a young man of Sienna, 
named Nicolas. This young man received at his house 
friends of his own age, and their conversation sometimes 
savoured of levity. Bonaventura became so depressed 
in spirits on this account, that she fell into a languishing 
state of health, and sensibly wasted away. Her husband 
inquired the cause of her illness ; she replied : "I have 
never been accustomed to hearing in the house of my 
father, language such as I hear in yours ; my education 
has been widely different, and I assure you that if these 



24 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

unbecoming discourses continue, my life must soon termi- 
nate. '^ 

This reply inspired the husband with a great respect 
for her and her family. He forbade his guests to pro- 
nounce in the presence of Bonaventura any words that 
could possibly displease her ; they obeyed, and thus the 
correct government in the household of Jacomo, cor- 
rected the license of the house of Nicolas, his son-in- 
law. 

Jacomo 's occupation was the preparation of colors em- 
ployed in dying wool ; hence his surname of the dyer. 
The daughter of this virtuous artisan was destined to 
become the spouse of the King of Heaven. 

The above account I have obtained either from 
Catharine herself, from her mother, or from some reli- 
gious and seculars who were neighbors, friends or rela- 
tives of Jacomo. 



CHAPTER II. 

BIRTH OF CATHAEIXE — HER INFANCY — WONDERFUL CIRCTJMSTANOES 
THAT TAKE PLACE. 

Lapa became the mother of two delicate daughters at 
a birth ; [13 it] bat the weakness of their bodies was not 
destined to impair the energy of their souls. The mother 
not being able to nourish both, found herself obliged to 
confide one of them to the care of a stranger. God willed 
that the infant she herself retained, should be her whom he 
had chosen for his spouse ; and when the infants received 
baptism, the mother^s choice was called Catharine, and the 
other Jane. Jane soon bore to Heaven the name and grace 
that she received in baptism ; she lived but a few days, and 
Catharine remained alone to save, in after years, a multi- 
tude of souls. Lapa consoled herself on the death of 
her daughter, by tending more carefully the one that was 
left, and she frequently acknowledged that she loved her 
more tenderly than all the others, probably because she 
had been able to nurse her herself, for it was the only one 
out of the twenty-five children, with which God had 
blessed her, to whom she had been able to give this ma- 
ternal attention. 

Catharine was educated as a child that belonged to 
God. As soon as she began to walk alone, she was 
loved by all who saw her, and her conversation w^as so 
discreet, that it was with difficulty her mother could keep 
her at home ; her neighbors and relatives would brins^ 
her to their houses in order to listen to her child-like 
reasonings, and enjoy her infantine sweetness. They 
found so much consolation in her company, that they did 

3 (25 ) 



2G LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

not call her Catharine, but Euphrosyne, which signifies 
joy, satisfaction. Perhaps they were ignorant of this 
meaning, and did not know what I learned later, that 
Catharine had resolved to imitate St. Euphrosyne ; and 
it may be, also, that in her childish phrases she uttered 
some words resembling Euphrosyne, and those who re- 
peated her words gave her this name. 

Her youth realized the promises of her early infancy : 
her words possessed a mysterious power which inclined 
the soul to God. As soon as one conversed with her, 
sadness was dispelled from the heart, vexations and trou- 
bles were forg:otten and a ravishing peace took possession 
of the soul, so extraordinary indeed that one could only 
imagine it to resemble that enjoyed by the Apostles on 
Mt. Thabor when one exclaimed — '' it is good for us to be 
here I '^ Bonum est nos hie esse. She was scarcely five 
years old when she would recite an Ave Maria, on each 
step of the stairs on going up and coming down, accom- 
panying it with a genuflexion, and she has since assured 
me that she thus strove to raise her mind from things 
visible to things invisible. The mercy of God, deigned 
to recompense this pious being, and encouraged her by a 
wonderful vision, thus lavishing the dews of his heavenly 
grace on this tender plant which was destined to become 
a towering and magnificent cedar. 

Catharine was six years of age, when her mother sent 
her, with her little brother Stephen, to the house of their 
sister Bonaventura, either to carry something, or obtain 
some information : their commission being executed, the 
children were returing by the valley known as the Valle 
Piatta, when Catharine, raising her eyes to heaven, saw 
opposite to her, on the gable end of the Church of the 
Friar Preachers, a splendid throne occupied by our Lord 
Jesus Christ clothed in pontifical ornaments, and his sacred 



THE FIRST \aSION. 21 

brow adorned with a tiara. At his side were St. Peter, 
St. Paul and St. John the Evangelist. Catharine stood 
still ravished with admiration and contemplated with love 
Him who thus manifested himself to her in order to cap- 
tivate more fully her devoted heart ; the Saviour gave 
her a look of serene majesty, smiled upon her with be- 
nign tenderness, and then extending his hand gave her 
his blessing in the form of a cross, as is customary with 
Bishops. But whilst she was looking at our Lord, her 
little brother Stephen, continued descending, fancying 
that she followed him, while on the contrary he had left 
her far behind. Turning around, he perceived his sister 
looking up to heaven ; he called her with his utmost 
voice, but she made no reply ; until at length he went to 
her, and taking her by the hand, said, '' Come on, why 
do you stay there ? '^ Catharine appeared to awake from 
a profound sleep looked at him an instant and then said : 
*'0 did you but see what I see, you would never have 
disturbed me in such a sweet vision," and her eyes again 
turned towards heaven, but all had vanished, to the great 
grief of Catharine, who wept, and reproached herself 
for having lowered her eyes. From this moment Cath- 
arine seemed to be no longer a child ; her virtues, her 
manners, and her thoughts were superior to her age, and 
would have done honor to men of mature years. The 
fire of divine love inflamed her heart and enlightened her 
understanding; her will strengthened, her memory de- 
veloped, and her every action became conformed to the 
rules of the Gospel. She disclosed to me since, that th3 
Holy Spirit then taught her, without any human teaching, 
and without any reading, the life pursued by the Fathers 
of the desert, and proposed to her the imitation of some 
saints, particularly of St. Dominick. She experienced 
such un ardent desire to follow their example, that she 



28 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

could not dwell upon any other thought ; and to the 
astonishment of all, she sought retired spots in order to 
scourge her feeble body with a little discipline. Her medi- 
tation and prayers became continual, and to accomplish 
them she forsook all the ordinary amusements of her age ; 
she became daily more silent, and diminished her food, 
contrary to the habits of growing children. Catharine's 
example attracted other little girls who wished to hear 
her pious discourses, and imitate as far as possible, her 
devout practices. They assembled in an apartment re- 
mote from the house, practiced corporal austerities with 
Catharine and said as many times the Pater Noster, and 
Ave 3Iaria, as she prescribed to them. This was only 
a prelude of the future. 

Our Lord deigned to encourage these acts of virtue by 
sensible graces. Her mother informed me, and Catharine 
was obliged to acknowledge it to me, that when purpo- 
sing to mount the stair-case she was borne up to the top 
without touching the steps with her feet, and such was 
the rapidity of her ascent that the mother trembled lest 
she should fall. This favor happened to her when she 
shunned little assemblies, above all when persons of the 
other sex were present. 

The knowledge of the life of the Fathers of the Desert, 
which Catharine had received from heaven, also deter- 
mined her to withdraw into solitude ; but she was igno- 
rant how to accomplish her project ; and God who 
destined her to another mode of life did not furnish her 
the means and left her to the dreams of her imagination. 
One morning, she set forth in search of the desert ; after 
having prudently provided herself with a loaf of bread 
she directed her course towards the residence of her 
married sister, who lived near one of the gates of Sienna. 
She left the city for the first time in her life, and as soon 



SHE SEEKS THE DESERT. 29 

as she perceived the valley, and the habitations a little 
more distant from one another she thought she was cer- 
tainly approaching ''the desert.'' Having found a kind 
of grotto underneath a shelving rock, she joyfully entered 
it, convinced that she was now in her much desired soli- 
tude. She knelt, and adored Him who had condescended 
to appear to her and bless her, and God who accepted 
the pious desires of his spouse, but who had other de- 
signs over her, would testify to her how agreeable her 
fervor was to him. She had scarcely begun her medita- 
tion, than she was elevated little by little to the very 
vault of the grotto, and remained thus to the hour of 
jS'one. Catharine, presuming that this was a snare of 
Satan to distract her, and turn her from her holy purpose, 
increased the ardor of her prayers. 

At length about the hour in which the Saviour consu- 
mated his sufferings on the cross, she descended to the 
earth, and God revealed to her that the moment of 
sacrifice had not yet come, and that she was not to quit 
the house of her father. On leaving the grotto she be- 
came anxious on finding herself so far from the town, and 
dreaded the trouble that would arise in the hearts of her 
family who would imagine her to be lost ; she recom- 
mended herself to God, and suddenly the holy child was 
transported, in the twinkling of an eye, to the gates of 
Sienna, whence she speedily returned home, and never 
disclosed this circumstance to any but her confessors, of 
whom I am the last and the most unworthy.* 

* The Blessed Author, has faithfully fulfilled his promise given 
in the Prologue, of scrupulously naming his informants and 
authority, but we think it irrelevant to put them in this trans- 
lation, on account of the reverence due to iiim, to the faith of 
the Catholic reader ; besides it would increase the volume beyond 
the intention of the zealous publisher. — ^liA^'SLAT0R. 



CHAPTER III. 

OF Catharine's vow of virginity, and a circumstance of her 



EARLY YEARS. 



The apparition of our Lord exerted such a powerful 
influence over the heart of this devout child, that the 
gems of self-love were destroyed, and it became inflamed 
with the sole love of Jesus Christ and of the glorious 
Virgin Mary. All besides appeared to her only misery 
and corruption, and her supreme desire was to be united 
to the Saviour. The Holy Spirit gave her grace to 
understand that purity of soul and body is necessary for 
pleasing the Creator, and she sighed after the treasure of 
perpetual virginity. She implored the Queen of Angels, 
and of virgins, to be so kind as to obtain from God, the 
lights which were necessary for accomplishing what would 
prove most acceptable to his divine majesty and the most 
conducive to her soul's salvation, expressing to her merely 
the extreme desire she felt of embracing on earth an an- 
gelic mode of life. At length heavenly prudence bade 
her no longer stifle the holy emotions produced in hei 
soul by the Spirit of God, and being one day retired 
quite solitary in prayer, she knelt down and invoked the 
Blessed Virgin, concluding her prayer thus — '* I promise 
thy Son, and I promise thee, never to accept any othei 
spouse and to preserve myself to the best of my ability 
pure and unspotted.^' 

Catharine did indeed obtain her divine Spouse, and was 
strictly united to him by her vow of virginity : the 
blessed Mother of Jesus performed the nuptial ceremony 

(30) 



HER VOW OF VIRGINITY. 31 

which was miraculously celebrated, as we shall see in the 
course of our narrative. 

After this perpetual vow, Catharine advanced rapidly 
in sanctity ; in imitation of Jesus Christ, she crucified her 
innocent body, and she resolved to deny herself as far as 
possible, all nutritious aliments. When meat was served 
to her, she secretly gave it to her brother Stephen, or 
put it secretly away ; she continued and augmented her 
disciplines, either alone or in concert with her youthful 
friends. She felt a burning zeal for the salvation of souls, 
and entertained a special devotion towards such saints as 
had labored most diligently in promoting it : she chiefly 
loved St. Dominic, whose apostolical charity God had 
made known to her. 

The child advanced in age, but faith, hope and charity 
were developed far before her tender years, and her daily 
conduct commanded the respect of her seniors. The fol- 
lowing instance Lapa often related. Catharine had 
scarcely attained the age of ten, when Lapa desirous of 
having a Mass said in honor of St. Anthony, sent her to 
the curate of the parish to acquiesce in her wishes, and 
to offer a certain number of candles on the altar, and 
present a sum of money mentioned. The pious child 
joyfully fulfilled her mother's commission, but would profit 
by adding her own prayers to what she felt was promoting 
God's glory. She therefore remained in the Church 
until the end of Mass, and did not return home until the 
Office had terminated. Her mother was persuaded that 
she should have come home, after having spoken with the 
priest, found her absence too much prolonged, and re- 
proached her in a way common among ''the people ^^ 
for her slowness. '' Cursed,^ ^ said she, ''be the tongues 
that pretend that thou shouldst not have returned 1'' 



32 LIFE OF SAINT CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

The child listened to these words without making any 
reply, but a few moments after, she invited Lapa aside, 
and said to her with as much gravity as humility, '' Dear 
mother, whenever I commit any fault, or execute your 
orders badly, punish me, beat me even if you will, to 
force me to do my duty better, but, I entreat you, never 
to curse any one on my account, for it is unbecoming 
your years, and gives me great pain.'' The mother was 
greatly surprised at this lesson from her child, and more 
edified than surprised when she discovered that she had 
remained to offer the Holy Sacrifice, instead of loitering 
by the way as she had hastily judged. 



CHAPTER lY. 

OF A RELAXATION OF ^FERVOR, WHICH GOD PERMITTED IN ORDER TO 
AUGMENT HER GRACE, AND OF THE GREAT PATIENCE OF CATHAR- 
INE IN SUPPORTING PERSECUTIONS FOR THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST. 

The increated Wisdom, which governs all things, some- 
times permits the fall of his Saints, so that they may 
afterwards arise and serve him with much greater ardor, 
and tend with greater prudence towards perfection, and 
gain more splendid victories over the enemies of their 
salvation. 

When Catharine, who had consecrated her virginity to 
God, had attained the age of twelve years, she never left 
the paternal roof alone, according to the usage establish- 
ed for all unmarried females. Her father, mother and 
brothers, who were ignorant of her solemn promise, 
thought of finding her a suitable partner. Her mother 
who desired for her a husband worthy of her merit, and 
who knew not that she had already selected a spouse far 
above all human alliances, took great pains in adorning 
her interesting daughter ; she caused her to have her hair 
dressed, and her head covered with ornaments, while her 
neck, face and arms were attempted to be displayed in a 
manner calculated to please such as might ask her hand 
in marriage. Catharine entertained other thoughts, but 
she concealed them from her parents, fearing to afilct 
them ; she submitted unwillingly to the wishes of her 
mother, seeking to please God rather than men. Lapa 
was pained at the opposition she could not help observ- 
ing ; she summoned to her aid her married daughter 

C33) 



34 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

Bonaventura, and charged her to persuade her sister to 
assume the ornaments suited to voung persons of her 
age. She was well aware of Catharine's tenderness to- 
wards her sister, whose influence was able to produce the 
success of her projects. She was not deceived, God 
suffered the victory of Bonaventura's little manoeuvres; 
she influenced Catharine by her conversations and exam- 
ples to devote herself to the occupations of her toilette, 
without however prevailing upon to renounce her vow. 
She accused herself of this fault with so many tears and 
sobs, that one would have supposed she had committed 
some great crime. And now that this lovely flower is 
transferred to the parterre of heaven, I may disclose the 
secrets that will redound to God's glory, and expose what 
passed between us on this subject. There was a question 
of it in all her general confessions, and it was always with 
signs of the liveliest contrition. I knew well that holy 
souls frequently fancy they discover faults where there is 
none in reality, and exaggerate much the imperfections 
they commit. But as Catharine appeared to believe she 
deserved eternal misery I thought it my duty to inquire 
if she had thought of renouncing her vow of virginity 
when acting thus. She answered me no, and that such 
an idea never even approached her heart. I then inquired 
whether, without wishing to infringe her vow of virginity, 
she had sought to please men in general, or any one man 
in particular ; her reply was that nothing was more pain- 
ful to her than to see men or to find herself with them. 
When her father's apprentices, who lived in the house, 
came where she was, she fled as though she had met with 
serpents, to the astonishment of all. Neither would she 
ever take her place at a door or in a window, in order to 
look at those who passed by. But then, said I to her, 



HER DOMESTIC TRIAL. 35 

how can you believe thattlie care jou took in your toilette 
can cause you to merit hell ; above all if there was noth- 
ing excessive in your attire ? She said that she had 
loved her sister too well, by prefering her pleasure to 
God's will, and then recommenced her tears. On my 
deciding that there might be imperfection, but that there 
was no violation of a formal precept, she exclaimed, '' 
dear Lord, see ! my spiritual father excuses my sins. 
Can a creature so vile and contemptible, who has received 
so many graces from her Creator, without having ever 
merited them, have thus passed her precious time inno- 
cently in adorning her miserable body, and that to please 
a mere creature ?'' 

This conversation proves how that beautiful soul was 
ever preserved from mortal sin, that she guarded her 
virginity spiritually and corporally, and never tarnished 
her purity either by word or action. In all her general 
confessions, and in all her particular ones, I have found 
no other faults than those which I have just related. 
Her whole time was consecrated to prayer, meditation 
and the edification of her neighbor. She granted herself 
but a quarter of an hour of sleep daily. During her 
repast, (if the little food she took could be called by that 
name,) she prayed and meditated on what our Lord had 
taught her. I know, and can attest before the Church, 
that during the period of my acquaintance with her, it 
was more painful for her to take food, than it is painful 
for one who is fainting with hunger to be deprived of it, 
and that she suffered more when she took any, than others 
endure in a violent fever — hence eating became to her a 
cruel penance. It would be difficult to imagine what 
fault a soul could commit which was so continually occu- 
pied with God, and yet she accused herself with so much 



36 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

sorrow, and succeeded in finding so many imperfections, 
that a Confessor who did not know her mode of life, 
might be deceived and fancy there was evil where none in 
reality existed. I have dwelt at length upon this fault of 
Catharine in order to show to what a high degree of 
perfection grace had raised her. 

Bonaventura who had succeeded in occupying her with 
her toilette, had not inspired her with a wish to please 
the world, yet her fervor in prayer and meditation had 
abated. Our Lord would no longer permit that his 
chosen spouse should thus be separated from his heart, 
and he destroyed the obstacle that prevented this holy 
union. Bonaventura, who had led Catharine in the path 
of vanity, died in childbed, and in the flower of her age — 
and her death caused Catharine to comprehend more 
deeply the vanity of earth, and she devoted herself with 
new ardor to the service of her divine spouse. At this 
epoch she dates her devotion to St. Magdalen, of whom 
she asked a contrition similar to hers ; this devotion always 
increasing, our Lord and the Blessed Virgin gave her 
Mary Magdalen for mistress as mother, as we shall here- 
after see. 

The enemy of salvation, perceiving that his snares were 
overthrown, and that she whom he was desirous of des- 
troying, had sought refuge with more love than ever in 
the bosom of her spouse, determined to excite obstacles 
in her house, and bind her to the world by the violence of 
his persecutions ; he inspired her relatives with the deter- 
mination of obliging her to marry so as to fill the void 
created in the family by the death of Bonaventura. 
Catharine, enlightened from above, only increased her 
vocal prayers — her meditations and austerities, — avoiding 
the society of men, and proving in every way the inflexi- 



HER DOMESTIC TRIALS. 37 

bility of her resolation never to give to a simple mortal 
the heart that had been accepted by the King of kings. 

Her parents left no means untried of overcoming her 
resistance, and addressed themselves to a Friar Preacher, 
whom they besou.Q:ht as a friend of the family to do all 
that he could to procure the consent of Catharine. He 
promised to second their views, but when he conversed 
with her, and found her will so firm, his conscience obliged 
him to sustain her, and instead of contending with her, 
he said to her : '' Since you have decided to consecrate 
yourself to God, and those who surround you oppose it, 
prove to them that your resolution is not to be shaken. 
Cut off your hair, entirely ; perhaps they will then let 
you enjoy tranquility.'' Catharine received this advice 
as coming from heaven ; she took her scissors and joyfully 
cut off her beautiful tresses, now become hateful to her, 
because she supposed them to have been the cause of her 
committing a fault. She then covered her head, contrary 
to the custom of youthful maidens, whom however the 
Apostle recommends never to go forth without a veil. 
When Lapa saw this veil, she asked her the reason of 
wearing it ; Catharine neither dared to tell a falsehood 
nor avow the truth, and spoke in as low a tone as possible. 
Her mother then seized the veil, and in removing it dis- 
covered her head shorn of its beautiful locks. ''Ah! 
daughter what have you done ? '' cried she, but Catharine 
quietly resumed her veil and withdrew, At the mother's 
shriek the whole family met, and when they learned what 
had been done all in union gave way to violent anger. 

This was the occasion of a new persecution for Cath- 
arine, and more terrible than the former ; she triumphed 
over it by the aid of heaven, and the means they adopted 
for separating her from our Lord, served on the contrary 



38 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

to unite her more closely to him. They loaded her with 
injurious words and harsh treatment, telling her that her 
hair should be allowed to grow notwithstanding the re- 
volts of her heart, and that she should enjoy no peace 
until she consented to be married in obedience to their 
determinations. It was also decided, that she should 
perform all the menial work of the house, and that no 
leisure should be left her for conversing with God. So 
as to humble her to the utmost, they even dismissed the 
kitchen-maid, and forced Catharine to fulfil her functions. 
Every day they loaded her with affronts such as are most 
sensible to a woman's heart — and at the same time pro- 
posed to her a highly honorable connexion, and took 
every possible means to induce or constrain her to accept 
it. But the devil was again vanquished ; Catharine in- 
stead of yielding, became stronger with the help of grace, 
and gave way to no trouble in this storm ; the Holy 
Spirit had taught her to erect a little cell in the interior 
of her soul, whence she resolved never to come forth, 
notwithstanding her pressing exterior occupations. When 
she was privileged with a room, she was often obliged to 
leave it, but, nothing could oblige her to leave this 
interior retreat — eternal truth has declared that the 
kingdom of God is within us — Begnum dei intra nos est, 
(Luke xvii 21.) and the prophet proclaims that all the 
glory of the King's daughter is within. Omnis gloria 
filice regis ab intus. (Ps. xliv. 14.) 

The Holy Ghost also inspired Catharine with a means 
of supporting affronts and of maintaining in every crisis 
the joy and peace of her soul. She imagined that her 
father represented our divine Saviour, and that her mother 
took the place of the Blessed Virgin. Her brothers and 
and other relations were the Apostles and disciples of oar 



HER DOMESTIC TRIALS. 39 

Lord to her; hence she served them with a delight and 
ardor that astonished every one ; this means assisted her 
to enjoy her divine spouse whom she believed she was 
serving ; the kitchen became a sanctuary to her, and when 
she seated herself at table, she nourished her soul with 
the presence of the Saviour. richness of Eternal 
Wisdom, how numerous and admirable are the ways thou 
hast for delivering those who hope in thee ! Thou canst 
draw them out of every danger and conduct them to the 
port through the most difficult and dangerous channels. 

Catharine considered that recompense which the eternal 
Spirit promised her, and suffered all these trials with joy 
rather than patience, and her soul was inundated with the 
sweetest consolations, while fulfilling her duties. As she 
was not allowed an apartment to herself, but was ordered 
to share one with another, she chose that of her youthful 
brother Stephen, who was unmarried : because she could 
profit by his absence during the day, and his profound 
sleep at night, to devote herself to her practice of prayer ; 
thus she continually sought the presence of her spouse, 
and was never weary of knocking at the door of his sa- 
cred tabernacle. She implored God to deign to protect 
her virginity, repeating with St. Cecilia this verse of the 
Psalmist Fiat Domine cor meum et corpus meum 
immaculatum, (Ps. cxviii. 80.) Her spirit of recollec- 
tion and her hopes gave her such strength and energy 
that with her trials her spiritual joy increased; and her 
brothers who witnessed her constancy, said to one another ; 
' ' We are vanquished ! ' ^ Her father, who was better than 
the others, examined her conduct in silence, and compre- 
hended daily more and more that she was doing the will 
of God, and not following the fancies of a capricious 
maiden. 



40 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

One day while the servant of Jesus Christ was praying 
fervently in her brother^s room ; the door being open, 
because her parents had forbidden her to shut it ; her 
father entered to take something that he needed in the 
absence of his son. While looking about, he saw his 
daughter who was kneeling in one corner of the chamber, 
and having a snow-white dove reposing on her head ; at 
his approach it fled, and seemed to disappear through 
the window : he enquired of his daughter what dove that 
was that just flew away ; she replied that she had not 
seen a dove or any other bird in her room. This occur- 
rence filled him with astonishment, and awakened serious 
reflections in his mind. 

Catharine felt an increasing desire to accomplish a 
project which she had entertained indeed from her infancy ; 
namely to be clothed with the habit of the order founded 
by the illustrious St. Dominic, hoping she could thus more 
easily occomplish her holy vow. She prayed continually 
to God through the intercession of that saint, who had 
displayed such an impassioned zeal for the salvation of 
souls. Our Lord, seeing this young and generous athlete 
combating in the arena, encouraged her by the following 
vision. During her sleep, she seemed to behold all the 
Founders of the various orders, and among them St. 
Dominic, whom she recognized by a lily of dazzling 
brightness which he bore in his hand, and which was 
burning without being consumed. They each and all 
engaged her to select an order, so as to serve God in 
higher perfection ; she turned towards St Dominic whom 
she saw advancing towards her and presenting her with 
a habit of the Sisters of Penance of St. Dominic, who 
are very numerous in Sienna. He addressed her in the 
following consoling words: '^Daughter, be of good 



HER DOMESTIC TRIALS. 41 

heart, fear no obstacle, excite your courage, for the happy- 
day will come when you shall be clothed in the pious habit 
you desire." This promise filled her heart with joy, she 
thanked the great St. Dominic with an effusion of tears, 
which awakened her, and restored her to her senses. 

This vision so comforted and strengthened her, that on 
that very day she assembled her father and mother with 
her brothers, and with great assurance declared to them : 
''During a long time you have resolved that I should 
marry, and have endeavored to force me to do so ; you are 
aware that I hold this project in horror ; my conduct 
must have convinced you of this ; I have not however 
explained myself, on account of the respect due to my 
parents, but duty obliges me to be silent no longer ; I 
must speak candidly with you, and declare to you an en- 
gagement I have assumed, which is not novel, since I 
contracted it in my infancy. Know therefore, that I have 
taken a vow of virginity, not through levity, but deliber- 
ately and with full knowledge of what I was doing ; now 
that I have a maturer age and a more perfect acquaint- 
ance with the nature of my actions, I persist with the 
grace of God in my resolution, and it will be easier to 
dissolve a rock than to induce me to change my will ; 
renounce therefore these projects for an earthly union ; it 
is quite impossible for me to satisfy you on this point, 
because it is better to obey God than man. If you de- 
sire to retain me as a domestic in the house, I will render 
you cheerfully all the services in my power, but if you 
desire to oblige me to leave it, know that I shall remain 
immoveable in my resolution ; my spouse has all the 
riches of heaven and earth, his power can protect me and 
provide abundantly for my every necessity." 

At these words all present melted into tears ; the sobs 

4* 



42 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

broke forth with such vehemence that no one could respond 
to her words ; there were no longer any means of oppo- 
sing the accomplishment of her vow. The hitherto tim- 
orous and silent maiden had declared calmly and firmly 
her resolution ; she was ready to quit the home of her 
infancy and all the delights of social intercourse rather 
than be wanting to it. When the emotion of the listeners 
had subsided a little, the father who loved his daughter 
devotedly, and who feared God more, recalling to mind 
the mysterious dove and other remarkable circumstances, 
gave her this reply. ''God preserve us, dearest child, 
from longer opposing the resolution with which he inspires 
you ; experience proves it, and we clearly perceive that 
you have not been actuated by levity, but by a movement 
of divine grace. Accomplish freely therefore the vow 
you have taken, do all that the Holy Spirit commands 
you ; henceforth we will no longer oppose your pious ex- 
ercises ; only pray for us that we may become worthy of 
the promises of that Spouse who chose you at so tender 
an age.'' Then turning to his wife and children he added : 
'*Let no one presume to contradict my dear child or seek 
to turn her from her saintly resolution ; let her serve her 
Saviour as she will, and render him propitious to us. We 
can never find a more beautiful and honorable alliance ; 
for it is not a mortal man whom we receive into our family, 
but a man God that never dies.'' After that, some still 
wept, especially the mother who loved her daughter too 
sensibly. Catharine on the contrary rejoiced in the Lord 
and thanked him for rendering her thus victorious ; she 
humbly thanked her parents also, and disposed herself to 
profit in the best possible manner by the liberty that had 
been granted to her. 



CHAPTER V. 

HER AUSTERE PENANCES, AND THE PERSECUTIONS 01?* HER MOTHER. 

As soon as Catharine had the liberty of serving God 
conformably to her desires, she set to work in an admira- 
ble manner ; she procured a small apartment separate 
from the others, in which she could erect a solitude, and 
torment her body at will. It is impossible to describe the 
austerities that she practiced and the ardor with which 
she sought the presence of her Spouse. 

From her infancy, Catharine seldom touched meat ; she 
interdicted herself so completely at that time, and so 
habituated herself to this privation, that in the end, she 
could not smell the odor of it without her stomach being 
offended. One day as I found her in a state of extreme 
weakness, because she had taken nothing to sustain her 
strength, I caused a bit of sugar to be put into the water 
that she was drinking ; when she perceived it, she said to 
me : *^ I see that you are anxious to extinguish the rem- 
nant of life that I yet have.'' As I asked her why, she 
replied that she had become so accustomed to taking 
unsavory dishes, that whatever was sweetened, sickened 
her ; it was the same thing in reference to animal food : 
as to wine, she mingled it so, that at the time in which 
she dwelt in her cell, it had neither taste or odor, and 
hardly preserved the rich color of the wine of that region. 
At the age of fifteen she renounced it entirely and drank 
only pure water, and by daily retrenching some new 
article of diet, she terminated by taking only a little 
bread, and some uncooked vegetables. 

(43) 



44 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

Her body was weighed down with infirmities, and sub- 
ject to insupportable indispositions ; her stomach was 
incapable of performing its functions, and yet the want 
of nourishment did not diminish her physical strength, 
her existence was a miracle, for medical men assured me 
that it was quite inexplicable to them. During the whole 
time that I had the privilege of being witness of her 
life, she took no food, and no drink that was capable of 
sustaining her, and this she supported, however, joyously 
even when undergoing sufferings and extraordinary 
fatigue. 

We must beware of supposing that this was the natural 
consequence of a certain diet and graduated abstinance ; 
it is quite evident that her strength was maintained by the 
ardor of her soul, for when the spirit superabounds in the 
body and is satiated with heavenly food, the body easily 
endures the torments of hunger. 

Her bed was composed of a few planks without any 
covering : she sat on them when meditating and knelt on 
them when praying, and then extended herself on them 
for sleeping, without laying aside any portion of her 
clothing which was wholly composed of wool. She wore 
a hair-cloth, but as she cherished exterior neatness as a 
figure of interior purity, she exchanged this hair-cloth for 
a chain of iron which she drew around her person with 
such force that it entered her flesh : this I learned from 
her companions who were obliged to change it on account 
of the profuse perspirations, which caused her fainting 
fits. When her weakness increased towards the close of 
her life I obliged her, in virtue of holy obedience, to quit 
this chain, which occasioned her great pain. At first 
she prolonged her vigils until the hour of Matins ; after- 
wards she overcame sleep so entirely, that she gave a 



HER AUSTERE PENANCES. 45 

short half hour to sleep every other day, and she did not 
allow herself that repose, but when the feebleness of her 
body forced her to do it. She acknowledged to me that 
no victory had cost her so dearly, and that she had under- 
gone great combats in this triumphing over sleep. 

Had she found persons capable of understanding her, 
she would willingly have passed the days and nights in 
talking of God, and her discourses, instead of weakening 
her, on the contrary rendered her more joyous and ap- 
peared to fortify her, for while she spoke of holy things, 
she seemed to be redolent with the vigor of youth, and 
when she ceased, she became languid and without energy. 
Sometimes she spoke to me of the profound mysteries of 
God, and as she never wearied, and I did not possess her 
sublime elevation of soul, I would fall asleep. But she, 
absorbed in God, would not perceive it, and continue 
talking, and when she discovered me asleep, she would 
arouse me with a louder tone of voice, and recall to my 
mind that I was losing precious truths and considerations 
in thus allowing her to converse with the walls. 

Peruse the lives of the fathers of the desert ; run over 
the pages of the Sacred Writings, and in vain will you 
seek any similar instance. You will see that Paul the 
Hermit lived a long time in the wilderness, but a raven 
daily brought him half of a loaf. The celebrated St. 
Anthony practiced astonishing austerities, but he had 
gathered, like odorous flowers, the example of the other 
anchorites whom he visited ; for St. Jerome relates that 
St. Hilarion, during his youth, had gone to find St. 
Anthony, and had taught him the secrets of solitude, 
and the means of acquiring victory. The two Saints 
Macarius, Arsenius, and numerous others, had masters 



46 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

who led them in the paths of the Lord ; all these 
lived amid the peace of solitude, and in the protect- 
ing shade of some monastry ; whilst this worthy daughter 
of Abraham was neither in a convent nor in the wild, 
but in the bosom of her family, without the help of spi- 
ritual direction, and surrounded by obstacles of every 
sort; and yet she attained a degree of abstinence that 
no Saint besides had ever attained. True, Moses fasted 
twice during a period of forty days ; Elias did it once, 
and the Gospel teaches us that the Saviour deigned to 
give us the same example, but these are not fasts during 
consecutive years. When John the Baptist was conducted 
by the spirit of God Jnto the wilderness, it is written, 
that his food was the locust and wild honey ; but this was 
not an absolute fast ; there is none but St. Magdalen of 
whom histo?^^ and not the Gospel, writes that she fasted 
during thirty-three years on a rock which is still pointed 
out, and therefore we may conclude, that the holy exam- 
ples I have cited give us to understand with what magni- 
ficence, and inexhaustible bounty, God enriches his 
saints and bestows on them Jieiv perfections. They should 
also prove the admirable virtue of Catharine, and that the 
Church may say of her, without injury to her other saints: 
*' We find none like her!'' Noii est inventus simih^ lili. 
The infinite power of Him who sanctifies souls, can give 
them, when it seems to him good, a particular glory. 

One more fact will recapitulate all I have said of 
Catharine, and will give you to comprehend to what 
point she had weakened her body and subjected her 
mind. Her mother informed me that her daughter, be- 
fore her penances, posssessed such physical strength, that 
she could easily take on her shoulders a weight sufficient 



HER AUSTERE PENANCES. 4T 

for a horse, and carry it with speed up two flights of 
stairs, that is to the attic on top of the house. Her body 
was twice as strong and twice heavier than at her twenty- 
eight years of age, and she became so weak that a mira- 
cle was necessary to sustain her. When I was acquainted 
with her, the spirit had so exhausted her physical energies, 
that we always believed her end was approaching, and 
yet she was filled with an admirable ardor, especially 
when there was question of the salvation of souls ; tlieUy 
she forgot all her infirmities and after the example of her 
holy patroness St. Magdalen, she suffered in her body 
and prayed by her soul, which communicated to her ex- 
hausted members, the superabundance of its strength. 

The old serpent whom she had vanquished, did not, 
however, renounce his efforts to torment her ; he addressed 
himself to Lapa, whom he , knew to be a true daughter 
of Eve, and succeeded, by means of the love which led 
her to consider Catharine's body more than her soul, in 
inspiring her with the thought of hindering her penance. 
When she found Catharine lying on simple planks, she 
conducted her forcibly into her room, and obliged her to 
share her own bed. Then Catharine, docile to the lessons of 
Wisdom, would fall on her knees, before her mother, 
soften her by words full of humility and sweetness, en- 
treating her to calm herself, and promising to repose by 
her side in accordance with her wishes. She would then 
lie down on the extreme edge of the bed and there medi- 
tate with fervor; and when she found her mother was 
asleep, she would softly arise and return to her devout 
exercises. It would not be long ; for Satan provoked by 
her constancy, would awaken Lapa. Then Catherine 
sought a means of satisfying her love of austerities, and 



48 LIFE OF SAINT CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

of leaving her mother in tranquility ; she managed to 
slide one or two planks under the sheets in the place she 
was to occupy ; but after some days her mother perceiv- 
ing it said : ' ' I see that all my endeavors prove futile ; 
at least do not try to conceal it from me, and sleep now 
as you wish.'' She yeilded to such perseverance, and 
permitted her to follow the divine inspiration. 



CHAPTER VL 

OF HER SELF-CONQUEST AT THE BATHS, AND HER CLOTHING WITH THE 
HOLY HABIT OF ST. DOMINIC. 

Catliarine resumed her pious exercises, and was contin- 
ually speaking to her parents of her desire to give herself 
more fully to her divine Spouse. She also solicited the 
''Sisters of Penance, of St. Dominic," who are denomi- 
nated Mantelees, to condescend to receive her among 
them, and allow her to wear their costume. Her mother 
afflicted at these requests, dared not, however, refuse her, 
and so as to try to distract her from her austerities she, with- 
out precisely knowing it, became the accomplice of Satan, 
by proposing to go to the Baths and to take Catharine 
with her. The spouse of our Lord, combatted with 
invincible arms, and all the attacks of the devil 
turned to her advantage. She found a method of tortur- 
ing her body ; for, under pretext of bathing herself bet- 
ter, she approached the canals by which the sulphurous 
waters enter the Baths, and she endured the burning heat, 
on her uncovered and delicate flesh, to such a degree, 
that she suffered more than when scourging herself with 
iron chains. When her mother told me this fact, Cath- 
arine told me that she had asked to bathe after the depar- 
ture of the others, because she was well assured that she 
would not be suffered to do this ; and when I inquired 
how she could support such atrocious torture without 
dying, she answered me with dovelike simplicity : ''When 
there, I thought much on the pains of Hell, and of Pur- 

6 ( 49 ) 



50 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIF.NNA. 

gatory : I besought my Creator, whom I had so often 
offended, to deign to accept for the torments I had 
merited, those that I then voluntarily underwent; and 
the thought that his mercy consented to it, filled my soul 
with such heavenly consolation that I was happy in the 
midst of my pain.'' 

On their return Lapa tried in vain to obtain from 
Catherine a relaxation in her austere practices ; her 
daughter turned a deaf ear, and only implored her, day 
by day, to go and press the " Sisters of Penance,'' to no 
longer refuse her the holy habit for which she languished. 
Lapa, overcome by her importunities consented to it. 
The sisters replied that it was not their custom to give 
their habits to young maidens, but to widows of mature 
age, who had consecrated themselves to God ; that they 
kept no enclosure (or cloister,) but that each sister must 
be capable of governing herself at home. Lapa returned 
with this answer, which was, we may presume, less pain- 
ful to her, than to her pious daughter. 

The Spouse of Jesus Christ was not however troubled ; 
she trusted in the promise she had received from heaven, 
and solicited anew its accomplishment. She told her 
mother that she was not discouraged, and that she must 
insist with the sisters, and Lapa yielded at length to her 
earnestness, but returned home without any better suc- 
cess 

In the mean time Cath rine was seized with a malady 
common to young persons in her country. Providence 
had his designs. Lapa loved all her children with tender- 
ness, but this one in particular. The poor mother sat by 
her bedside, giving her every imaginable remedy and 
seeking to console her ; but Catharine, amidst her suHur- 
ings, only pursued with new ardor the object of her desires 



THE HOLY HABIT OF ST. DOMINIC. 51 

and strove to profit by a moment in which her anxious 
and loving mother was ready to accord her any thing she 
requested. She said to her sweetly: ^' Dearest mother, 
if you wish me to recover my health and strength, try to 
obtain for me the habit of the ^ Sisters of Penance.' I 
am convinced that God and St. Dominic who call me, 
will take me from you, if I wear any other religious 
dress.'' 

Lapa gave way to sadness on hearing these words, but 
as she feared losing her daughter, she once more addressed 
herself to the Sisters, and was so importunately persua- 
sive that they were shaken in their resolutions. They 
answered : ''If she be not handsome, nor of a beauty too 
remarkable, we will receive her, on her account and yours, 
but if she be too pretty, we are bound to avoid the incon- 
veniences that might spring from the malice of men of the 
present period." Lapa invited them to come and judge 
for themselves. Then, three or four of the sisters, 
selected among the most enlightened and prudent, accom- 
panied her to see Catharine and examine her vocation. 
They could not judge of her personal appearance, for her 
whole body was covered with a kind of eruption conse- 
quent on her malady, which quite disfigured her, besides 
her beauty was not excessive ; but they heard her express 
herself with so much fervor, and remarked in her such a 
profound wisdom that they were quite enchanted ; they 
comprehended that the maturity of her mind redeemed the 
fewness of her years, and that there were not very many 
aged persons who were as rich in virtues before God 

They retired filled with pious joy and edification, and 
rendered an account of their visit to their associates. 
These after having taken the opinion of the monks of the 
Order, assembled and received Catharine unanimously. 



52 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA 

They announced to her mother that, as soon as she would 
be recovered from her illness, she might repair to the 
church of the Friar Preachers, to take the habit of St. 
Dominic, in presence of the Brethren and Sisters, with 
the customary ceremonies. At this happy news, Cathar- 
ine shed tears of joy, and gave thanks to her heavenly 
Spouse and to Saint Dominic, who realized at last his 
promise. She implored her restoration to health, not in 
order to be released from sufferings, but so as to accom- 
plish more promptly the first and strongest wish of her 
heart. She was heard, aud became quite well in a few 
days, for how could our Lord refuse her when she asked 
him to remove an obstacle in the way of his greater 
glory, and the service of one who loved him so de- 
votedly. 

The mother now sought to retard the happy day of her 
reception, but in vain ; she was obliged to yield to the 
pressing solicitations of Catharine, and repair to the 
Church, where in the presence of many Sisters of the 
Order who rejoiced at it, and the Friar Preachers who 
directed them, Catharine was clothed with their habit 
which by its black and white draperies represented 
humility and innocence. It seems to me that the habit 
of no other Order would have been so suitable for her ; 
had it been wholly white or wholly black, the signification 
would have been incomplete : gray which results from 
their mixture, could indeed have represented her mortifi- 
cation, but not her triumph over poisonous natural pride, 
nor the bright purity of her virginal innocence. Cathar- 
ine was the first Virgin that was ever received, in Sienna, 
among the Sisters of Penance, but many followed her, 
and the words of David may appropriately be applied to 



THE HOLY HABIT OF ST. DOMINIC. 53 

her: Adducentur regi, virgines post earn. (Ps. ivl. 15.) 
In her train virgins were presented to the Lord. Had 
the Sister reflected more seriously I presume they would 
not have refused her request, for she was more worthy 
than they to wear a habit given to the Church to sym- 
bolize innocence, and the innocence of virginity is 
assuredly superior to the chastity of widowhood. 



CHAPTER VII. 

OF THE ORIGIN AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE *' SISTERS OF PENANCE '* 
OF ST. DOMINIC, AND OF THEIR MODE OF LIFE. 

The following particulars I have drawn from manu- 
scripts which I consulted in Italy, from informations 
taken from the seniors of the Order, and the members 
of it most worthy of trust, and the history of our blessed 
Founder St. Dominic. That glorious defender of the 
Catholic Faith, that valiant soldier of Jesus Christ, com- 
batted so victoriously the heresies that arose in Toulouse 
and in Italy, that by himself and his disciples, it was 
proved at his canonization that his doctrine and his 
miracles had converted, in Lombardy alone, more than a 
hundred thousand heretics. 

However the poison of error had corrupted minds to 
such a degree, that all the benej&ces of the Church were 
usurped by laymen, who transmitted them in regular in- 
heritance. The Bishops, obliged to beg for their own 
subsistence, had no means of reforming these abuses, and 
could not, in accordance with their charge, provide for 
the wants of regulars nor of the poor. St. Dominic who 
had chosen poverty for his own portion, did not wish 
however to see it in such a degree in the Church, and he 
resolved to strive to restore to her, her wealth. He 
collected some laymen, whom he knew to be filled with 
the fear of God, and organized from amongst them a pious 
Boldiery, for recovering the riches of the Church, defend- 
ing them, and resisting the injustice of the heretics ; this 
plan succeeded. Those who enrolled themselves, swore 
(^4) 



THE SISTERS OF PENANCE. 55 

to do all in their power for the attainment of their ends 
proposed, and to sacrifice if necessary, their fortunes and 
their persons ; but as their wives might sometimes offer 
obstacles, St. Dominic induced them to promise never to 
hinder their husbands, but on the contrary to assist them 
as far as possible. These Associates took the title of 
Brethren of the Militia of Jesus Christ. The holy 
founder desired to distinguish them among other laymen 
by an exterior badge and assign them some particular 
obligations. He prescribed to them the color of the 
habit of his Order ; the garments of the men and women, 
whatever might be their shape, were to be black and 
white, as emblematic of innocence and humility. He im- 
posed on them the recitation of a prescribed number of 
Pater and Ave^ which were to supply the canonical 
hours, when they could not assist at the Divine Office. 

Later, when our blessed Father St. Dominic had quitted 
the earth and soared aw^ay to Heaven, and his numerous 
miracles had decided the Church to inscribe his name in 
the catalogue of her Saints, the Brothers and Sisters of 
the Militia of Jesus Christ wished to honor their 
glorious founder, by taking the title of Brothers of Pen- 
ance of St. Dominic ; besides, the merits of St. Dominic 
and the apostolical labors of his Order had almost banished 
heresy ; exterior combats were no longer necessary, but 
it remained yet to overcome by penance, the interior 
enemy of the soul, and hence the new appellation was more 
becoming than the old one. When the number of the 
Friar Preachers had augmented, and Peter, (virgin and 
martyr,) had shone among them as a radiant star, in 
triumphing over his enemies, still more by his death than 
by his life, the troop of foxes that wished to ravage the 
vineyard of the Lord, was completely destroyed, and 



56 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

God restored peace to his Church. The reasons which 
led to the institution of the Militia of Jesus Christ no 
longer existed, the association therefore lost its military 
characteristic. When the men who were members of it 
died, their widows accustomed to the religious life which 
they had observed, renounced marriage, and persevered 
in their holy practices until death. Other widows who 
had not contracted the same engagements, but who 
would not marry again imitated the Sisters of Penance 
and adopted their rule in order to purify themselves from 
past faults. By degrees their number increased in the 
different cities of Italy, and the Friar Preachers directed 
them according to the Spirit of St. Dominic. But as 
there was nothing settled in this direction, a Spanish 
Friar, called Brother Munie, a Religious of saintly mem- 
ory, who had governed the whole Order, committed the 
Rule to writing, and it still exists. This Rule is not 
absolutely a religious Rule, because it does not require 
the three Vows, which are the foundation of every 
Religious Order. 

The Sisters of Penance continually increasing in 
numbers and sanctity, the sovereign Pontiff Honorius 
lY., in consideration of their merit, granted them by a 
bull, the permision to hear the Offices in the Churches 
of the Friar Preachers, even during the period of the 
interdict ; John XXII, after having promulgated the bull 
Clementina against the Beguines and the Regards, de- 
clared formally that his prohibitions did not extend to 
'*St. Dominic's Sisters of Penance j which existed in 
Italy and in whose Rule there was nothing that needed 
change. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

CF CATnARINE'S ADMIRABLE PROGRESS IN THE WAYS OF GOD, AND OP 
SOME PARTICULAR GRACES SHE RECEIVED, 

Catherine did not pronounce the three Vows of 
Religion on taking the habit of Saint Dominic, but she 
took the resolution of observing them perfectly : there 
could be no deliberation concerning that of chastity, 
because she had already taken the Yow of Yirginity. 
She promised to obey all that the father Master of the 
Sisters of Penance prescribed her, and also the orders 
of their Prioress. During her whole life she was so 
faithful to this engagement, that she was able to declare 
to her Confessor on her death-bed : that she could not 
remember having failed even once in obedience. 

Catharine also observed the Vow of Poverty perfectly. 
When she lived in her father's house and plenty reigned 
in it, she took nothing for herself; only she bestowed 
alms on the poor, for her father had given her full lati- 
tude on this point. She loved poverty so much, that she 
acknowledged, that nothing could console her for not 
finding it in her family. She asked God ardently to 
deign to render her parents poor : ' ' Lord, ' ' said she, ' ' is 
it not better that I ask for my parents and brothers, the 
goods of eternity : I know that those of earth are 
accompanied with ills and dangers, and I wish that they 
may not be exposed to them.^' God heard her prayer: 
extraordinary circumstances reduced her parents to ex- 
treme poverty, without any fault on their part, as can be 



58 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

easily proved by those who know them. After laying 
such foundations, Catherine began to raise the edifice of 
her perfection, like an industrious bee she profited by 
every occasion of advancing and took every means 
possible of living a more retired life and one more closely 
united to her divine Spouse. She proposed, in order to 
preserve herself unsullied by the world, to observe the 
most rigorous silence, and never to speak except when 
she went to confess her sins. Her Confessor who pre- 
ceded me, declared and wrote that she observed this 
resolution during three years. She remained in her cell 
continually except when she went to Church ; not even 
leaving it to take her food, which was, as we have already 
said, the veriest trifle ; again, she bedewed her repasts 
with her tears, and never commenced one without offer- 
ing to God the tribute of her grief. Who can recount 
her vigils, her prayers, her meditations and her sighs, in 
the solitude which she had found in her own house and 
amid the noise of the city. She had arranged her time 
so as to watch while the Dominicans whom she called her 
Brothers were sleeping, and when she heard the second 
toll for Matins, she said to her divine Spouse : ''Lord, 
my brethren who serve you, have slept until now, and I 
have watched for them in thy presence, praying thee to 
preserve them from evil and the wiles of the enemy. 
ISTow that they are rising to offer thee their praises, pro- 
tect them and suffer me to take a short repose '' — and 
then she would lie down on her planks using, a piece of 
wood for her pillow. 

He whom she loved, smiled upon her ardor and encoura- 
ged it by new graces, he was unwilling that so faithful a 
lamb should be destitute of a pastor, and a pupil so 
desirous of improvement without a good master ; but he 



HER PROGRESS IN THE* WAYS OF GOD. 59 

gave her neither an angel nor a man, but appeared to 
her himself in her little cell and taught her whatever 
might prove useful to her soul. ** Be sure, father/' said 
she to me, *' that naught that I know concerning the ways 
of salvation was taught by mere man ; it was my Lord 
and Master, the cherished Spouse of my soul, our Lord 
Jesus Christ, who revealed it to me by his inspirations and 
by his apparitions. He spoke to me, as I now speak to 
you.'' She owned to me that, in the beginning of her 
visions, when she perceived them by her exterior 
senses, she dreaded being deceived by Satan ; our Lord 
far from being offended extolled her prudence. The 
traveller, said he to her, should be ever on his gaurd, for 
it is written : Blessed is the man that liveth in fear. 
(Prov. xxviii. 14.) *'If thou wilt I will teach thee, how 
thou canst discern my visions, from the visions of the 
enemy." And as Catherine begged him earnestly, our 
Lord continued: *' It would be easy to enlighten thy 
soul directly and show thee how to distinguish at once, 
the origin of thy visions ; but for thy utility and the 
benefit of others, I will tell thee what the doctors teach, 
to whom I have made known my truth : my visions com- 
mence by terror and continue in peace ; their arrival or 
presentation is attended with a certain bitterness which 
little by little changes into sweetness. The contrary 
happens in the visions of the bad spirit ; — they begin 
with a certain joy, but always terminate by plunging the 
soul into trouble ; and this is just, for our ways are widely 
different. The way of penance and my commandments 
at first appears rude and painful ; but as the soul advan- 
ces, it becomes easy and delightful ; in the way of 
evil on the contrary, the first moments are agreeable ; 
but trouble and danger soon show themselves. J will 



60 LITE OF ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

give thee one more, and an infallible sign. My visions 
render the soul humble, by giving it the grace of com- 
prehending the truth of its unworthiness. But as the 
demon is the father of falsehood and the prince of pride, 
he can only give of what he possesses: his visions 
always engender in the soul a certain self-esteem which 
excites it to vanity. Examine thyself therefore, with 
care, and see whether thy visions proceed from the truth, 
or the opposite ; truth excites humility, falsehood creates 
pride." 

From this moment, her heavenly visions and communi- 
cations multiplied to such a degree, that the most active 
conversation between two friends, would not suffice to 
illustrate the exchange of thoughts between Catharine 
and her divine Spouse. Her prayers, meditation and 
spiritual reading, her vigils and her short repose, all were 
blessed with the same divine presence. These super- 
natural relations are the origin and cause of her abstinence, 
her admirable doctrine and her miracles, of which God 
rendered us witnesses during her life. 

In the beginning of my acquaintance with her, I had 
heard so many marvellous things concerning her, that I 
hesitated in believing them ; God permitted it for greater 
good. I sought in all possible ways to discover some 
means of assuring myself, whether these phenomena came 
from God or from some other source — whether they were 
true or false. I have found many deluded souls, especially 
among females, whose heads are easily turned, and who 
are more exposed to the seductions of Satan. Certain 
remarks troubled me, and I desired to be satisfied by him, 
who can neither deceive nor be deceived, when suddenly 
the thought came to my mind, that if I were to obtain 
from God by Catharine's prayers, a contrition for my 



HER PROGRESS IN THE WAYS OF GOD. 61 

sins superior to that which I felt habitually, it would be 
ail evident sign, that all that occurred came from the 
Holy Spirit, for no one can have a true contrition except 
by the Holy Spirit, and although we are ignorant, 
whether we are worthy of love or of hatred, contrition 
of heart is a proof that we are in the grace of God. I 
did not say a word of these thoughts which occupied me ; 
but went to Catharine, and earnestly asked of her to 
please to obtain from God the remission of my sins. 
She answered me with a joy replete with charity, that she 
would most willingly comply, and I then added, that to 
satisfy my desire I must have a satisfactory evidence, 
namely, an extraordinary contrition for my sins. She 
assured me that she would obtain it, and on the morrow 
she was conversing with me, when her discourse insensibly 
turned on God and on the ingratitude with which we 
offend his goodness. Whilst she spoke, I had a sudden 
vision of my sins, of surprising accuracy and distinctness : 
I saw myself, divested of all things, in the presence of 
my Judge, and I felt that I merited death, as do male- 
factors when stricken by the justice of men ; I saw also 
the bounty of my Judge, who by his grace took me into 
his service and replaced death by life, fear by hope, sor- 
row by joy, and shame by glory. These mental visions 
so triumphed over my hardness and obduracy of heart, 
that I began to shed torrents of tears over my sins : and 
ray grief became so profound that I thought I should die 
of it 

Catharine, vvhose end was accomplished, kept silence, 
and left me to my tears and sobs. Some moments after 
in the midst of my surprise at these interior dispositions, 
I remembered my request and the promise she had made 
me on the eve : I turned towards her, and said, ^ ' Is not 



62 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

this the gift I asked for yesterday?" ''The same," 
answered she, and added ''Remember the graces of 
God." My companion and myself were filled with glad- 
ness and edification — and I exclaimed with the incred- 
ulous Thomas — "my Lord and my God" — Dominus 
mens et Deus mens, (St. John xx. 28.) 

I received another proof of Catharine's sanctity which I 
relate to her honor and my own confusion. She was de- 
tained by sufferings in her bed, and she sent me notice 
that she desired to speak with me concerning some 
revelations. I went and approached her couch; she 
began then, notwithstanding the fever which burned in 
her veins, to discourse to me of God, and to explain to 
me all that had been revealed to her during the day ; the 
things were so extraordinary, that I forgot what had just 
happened to me, and I asked myself, "must I believe 
what she says ?" Whilst I hesitated and looked at her, 
her countenance suddenly changed into that of a stern 
man who was regarding me fixedly, and who filled me with 
terror: her oval face indicated the plentitude of life; 
her scanty beard was the color of wheat, and her whole 
countenance bore the impress of that majesty which re- 
vealed the holy presence of God. It was impossible 
for me to perceive any other countenance than hers. I 
w^as thoroughly terrified, and exclaimed, with lifted hands ; 
"Oh! who looks at me thus.?" Catharine answered, 
'^ He that zs.."' The vision disappeared, and I again saw 
the face of Catharine, which I could not distinguish be- 
fore. My understanding was enlightened with such an 
abundant light, chiefly upon the subject of our discourse, 
that I then comprehended that word of our Lord, when 
promising the coming of the Holy Ghost : '' Et quw 
Ventura sunt annuntiabit vobis. (St. John. xvi. 13.) 



CHAPTER IX. 

OF THE ADMIRABLE DOCTRINE TAUGHT HER BY OUR LORD, AND WHICH 
SHE ADOPTED AS HER RULE OF LIFE. 

Let us now examine the spiritual edifice of Catharine ^s 
perfection, with the grace of Him who is its corner-stone 
and foundation ; and as faithful souls find their life and 
their strength in the word of God, let us first dwell upon 
the lessons that she received directly from the beloved 
Master. In the beginning of her visions, Catharine re- 
lated to her Confessors, that our Lord appeared to her, 
whilst she was meditating and said to her : ''Know, my 
daughter, what thou art and what I am ; if thou learnest 
tlipse two thinors, thou shalt be truly blest : thou art what 
is not, and I am the great I Am ; if thy soul is deeply 
penetrated with this truth, the enemy cannot deceive thee 
and thou wilt avoid all his snares ; thou wilt never con- 
sent to do any thing against my commandments, and thou 
wilt acquire without difficulty, grace, truth and peace.'' 
In this short and simple doctrine, do we not find the 
'Mength, breadth, and height" of which St. Paul speaks 
to the Christians of Ephesus ? Our Lord also said to her 
in another apparition: "Daughter think of me and I 
will think continually on thee." Catharine comprehended 
this saying to mean, that God commanded her by this, to 
banish all her own thoughts from her heart, and keep no 
thoughts but his, without being anxious about herself and 
her salvation, so that no distraction could enter into it — 
for God knows all, and can do all, and he will watch and 
provide for the necessities of such as meditate on him and 

C63) 



64 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

find in it supreme happiness. Hence when we entertained 
any fear concerning ourselves or our Brethren, she would 
often say — *' What do you wish to do with yourselves ; 
let Providence act : amid your greatest dangers the 
divine eye watches over you ; and it will ever protect you.'^ 
This virtue of hope her divine Spouse had infused into 
her soul, when he said to her I will think on thee. 

I remember that, being on board of a ship with her and 
many other persons, the wind lowered into a dead calm 
towards midnight, and the pilot became extremely anxious. 
We were in a dangerous channel ; if the wind had taken 
us sideways, we might have been thrown on some neigh- 
boring islands or floated into the open sea. I gave notice 
to Catharine of our danger. She answered in her ordi- 
nary tone : ' ' Why do you annoy yourself with that, or 
suffer yourself to be distracted ? '' I remained silent and 
became re-assured ; but soon the wind veered in the 
direction dreaded by the pilot ; I mentioned it to Cath- 
arine : '' Let him change the helm, in the name of God,'' 
said she, * ' and let him sail in the direction of the wind that 
Heaven will send him." The pilot obeyed and w^e re- 
turned backward, but she prayed with her head bent for- 
ward, and we had not advanced farther than a bow shot, 
when the favorable wind that had forsaken us blew freshly, 
and we arrived at the hour of 3Iatins, at the desired port, 
while singing the Te Deiim, This narrative should not 
be placed here, in the order of time, but I relate it be- 
cause it serves and explains my subject. Yes, whoever 
reflects, must see that the second verity follows as a con- 
sequence from the first, if a soul recognizes that she is 
nothing in herself, and that she exists solely by God, she 
will not confide in herself in any action, but in the agency 
of God alone. She will put all her trust in the Lord, 



HER ADMIRIBLE DOCTRINES. 65 

and ^' place all her thoughts in him,^^ according to the 
words of the Psahnist. This does not hinder her from 
doing all that is possible to her, because this holy confi- 
dence proceeds from love — love produces in the soul a 
desire of the object beloved ; that desire provokes to the 
performance of all acts that are capable of satisfying it. 
Activity is in relation with love, but that does not hinder 
her giving her confidence to God, and rejecting all self- 
reliance, as she is taught by the knowledge that she has 
acquired of her own nothingness and of the perfection of 
her Creator. 

She frequently spoke to me of the state of a soul which 
loves her Creator, and she told me that, ^'that soul fin- 
ished by no longer perceiving herself, and forgetting 
herself together with all creatures.^ ^ As I requested an 
explanation, she told me ; ''The soul that comprehends 
its nothingness, and is convinced that all its good comes 
from the Creator, resigns itself so perfectly and plunges 
itself so totally in God, that all its activity is directed 
towards him, and exercised in him. She is unwilling to 
come forth from the centre in which she has found the 
perfection, of happiness : and that union of love which 
daily augments in her, transforms her, so to speak, into God 
so that she is incapable of entertaining other thoughts, 
or other desires, or other love than love of him, indeed 
the remembrance of all things else forsakes her. This is 
the lawful love of ourselves and of creatures, a love that 
cannot err, because the soul of necessity follows the di- 
vine will, and does nothing, and desires nothing out of 
God.^^ 

In this union of the soul with God, Catharine found 
another verity, which she taught continually to those 
whom she directed : ''The soul united to God, '' said she, 

6* 



66 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

''loves him as much as she detests the sensual part of her 
being. The love of God, naturally engenders a hatred 
of sin, and when the soul discovers that the germ of sin 
is in her senses, and that in them it takes its root, she can- 
not avoid hating her senses, and endeavoring, not indeed 
to destroy them, but to annihilate the vice that is in them, 
and she cannot attain to this but by great and continued 
efforts : the root of faults will indeed always exist ; for 
according to St. John. 4f we say that we have no sin 
we deceive ourselves, andthetruthisnotinus.'' (St. John 
1 Ep. i. 8.) 

''0 eternal bounty of God!'' exclaimed Catharine, "what 
hast thou done? From faults spring virtue, from offence par- 
don, and in contempt love puts forth its blossoms. O then, 
my children, endeavor to possess that holy hatred of self, 
it renders you humble, it will give you patience in tribula- 
tions, moderation in prosperity, restraint in your deport- 
ment, and you will become agreeable to God and man." 
And she added: "Woe, woe to the soul which has not 
this holy hatred, for where it does not exist, self-love 
must reign, and self-love is the cause of all sin, and the 
root of all vices." 

The same doctrine is found in the words that the 
Apostle heard in Heaven, when he prayed for deliverance 
from temptation : "Strength is perfected in weakness; " 
and he added, "I glory in my weaknesses, in order that the 
power of Christ may dwell in me." We may, therefore, 
conclude that the doctrine of Catharine had for its foun- 
dation the firm rock of virtue which is Jesus Christ. 



CHAPTER X. 

OF THE ADMIRABLE VICTORIES WHICH SHE GAINED OVER TEMPTATIONS, 
AND HER EXTRAORDINARY liSTIMACY WITH OUR LORD. 

The pacific King had erected the fortress of Libanus, 
for protecting Jerusalem against Damascus. The haughty 
prince of Babylon, the enemy of peace, was enraged ; he 
collected his armies against it, and wished to overthrow 
it. But he who gives and preserves peace, surrounded 
his fortress by magnificent and impregnable ramparts. 
Not only the darts of the enemy were powerless, but they 
returned against those who launched them and gave them 
death. So, when the old serpent saw Catharine, so 
young, mounting to such a high degree of perfection, he 
feared lest, with her salvation, that of many others would 
be secured ; and that she might assist the Church by her 
virtues and her teaching. He therefore sought in his 
infernal malice, every means of seducing her ; but the 
God of mercy, who permitted these attacks, in order to 
augment the glory of his spouse, gave her such excellent 
weapons wherewith to combat, that the war proved more 
profitable to her than peace. He first inspired her with 
the thought of asking God for the gift of fortitude : she 
did so continually during several days ; and God to 
recompense her prayer, gave her the following instruc- 
tions : 

*' Daughter, if thou wilt acquire fortitude, thou must 
imitate me. I could have, by my divine power, arrested 
the efforts of Satan, and have taken other means of over- 

( 67) 



68 LITE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA 

coming tliem, but I was desirous of instructing thee by 
mj examples, and teaching thee to overcome by means 
of the Cross. If thou wishest to become powerful against 
thy enemies, take the Cross for thy safeguard. Hath not 
my Apostle told thee that I ran with joy to the cruel and 
ignominious death of Mt. Calvary. (Heb. XII., 2.) 
Choose, therefore, to have trials and afflictions; endure 
them not only with patience, but embrace them with de- 
light ; they are lasting treasures, for the more thou wilt 
suffer for me, the more thou wilt be like me, and accord- 
ing to the doctrine of the Apostle, the more thou wilt 
resemble me in sufferings, the more, also, thou shalt be 
like unto me in grace and glory. Regard, therefore, my 
beloved child, on my account, sweet things as bitter, and 
bitter things as sweet, and be certain thou shalt always 
be strong. " Catharine profited so well by this lesson, 
and after it received trials with so much joy, that 
she acknowledged to me, that nothing exterior con- 
soled her so much as pains and afflictions ; she suffered 
when she was deprived of them, because she felt that 
they were the gems which would enrich her heavenly crown. 
"When the King of heaven and earth, had thus armed 
her who was destined to defend his cause, he permitted 
the enemy to advance and assail her. The devils attacked 
her on every side, and made unheard of efforts to over- 
throw her : they commenced by the most humiliating 
temptations and presented them to her imagination, not 
only during sleep, but in exciting phantoms which might 
have defiled her eyes and ears, and they tormented her in 
a thousand ways. These combats are horrible to relate, 
but the victory which followed them ought to be a source 
of joy to pure souls. Catharine combatted courageously 
against herself, by mortifying her flesh with a chain of 



HER VICTORIES OVER TEMPTATIONS. 69 

iron and shedding an abundance of blood. She aug- 
mented her vigils so far as to deprive herself of all sleep. 

Her enemies refused to retire, — they assumed the 
appearance of persons who came to pity and advise her : 
" Why poor little one, will you thus torture yourself and 
so uselessly ? Why use all these mortifications — do you 
suppose you can be able to continue them — will you not 
thus destroy your body and become guilty of suicide ? 
It is better to renounce these follies ere you become their 
victim, you can yet enjoy the world, you are young and 
your body would speedily recover its strength. You de- 
sire to please God, but there are many among the Saints 
who were married, as Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel, 
why be so imprudent as to select a mode of life in which 
you cannot persevere. '' To all these discourses Catharine 
only opposed prayer, and as to perseverance she simply 
replied, *^ I trust in the arm of the Lord, and not in 
mine. ^' The devils could never obtain more. She gave as a 
general rule against such temptations, never to dispute 
with the enemy^ for he relies very much on vanquishing us 
by the subtilty of his reasons. 

Then Satan laid aside his reasonings and adopted a 
new method of attack ; the devils pursuing her wath 
screams and inviting her to partake of their abominations. 
In vain did she close her eyes and ears, she could not 
banish these horrible spectres, and to crown her affliction, 
her divine Spouse, who had usually come to visit and 
comfort her, seemed to abandon her without any relief 
visible or invisible ; hence her soul was plunged into a 
profound melancholy, without however obtaining from her 
the cessation of her austerities, or her mental prayer, and 
she gave this following maxim to souls which she con- 
ducted, *'When the Christian soul perceives her fervor 



TO LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

diminishing on account of some fault or some temptation 
permitted by Providence, she ought to continue her spir- 
itual exercises and even multiply them, instead of for- 
saking or lessening them." 

Catharine, faithful to the inspirations of God, excited a 
holy hatred against herself — '' thou vilest of creatures,'' 
said she to herself, ^' art thou worthy of receiving any con- 
solations, recall to mind thy sins, it will be a great favor 
if thou dost avoid eternal wrath by supporting during a 
life time these pains and this obscurity. Why then be 
afflicted ; shouldst thou escape hell, Jesus Christ can con- 
sole thee during all eternity ; it was not for present en- 
joyment thou didst resolve to serve him, but in order to 
possess him in Heaven : arise then, abandon none of thy 
pious practices, and celebrate in a more animated strain 
the praises of thy Creator.'' Thus by her humility she 
confounded the prince of darkness, and drew strength 
from the precepts of Wisdom. Her apartment seemed 
to be infested with these impure spirits, she therefore left 
it and staid as long as possible in the Church, because 
these infernal obsessions tormented her less when there. 

This trial continued during several days, when on re- 
turing from the Church, being engaged in prayer, a ray 
of the Holy Spirit beamed upon her soul and recalled to 
her memory that she had requested, a short time previous, 
the gift of fortitude, and that God had indicated to her 
the means for obtaining it. She instantly comprehended 
the cause of this dreadful temptation and resolved to bear 
it with holy courage, as long as it pleased her divine 
Spouse. Then one evil spirit, more malicious than the 
others, said to her : '* Poor miserable soul, what art thou 
about to undertake — canst thou pass thy whole life in this 
state — we will torment thee to death, unless thou dost 



HER PROGRESS IN SANCTITY. H 

obey US. " Catharine remembering the advice she had 
received answered: ''I have chosen sufferings for my 
consolation ; not only will it not be difficult for me, but 
even delightful to undergo similar afflictions and even 
greater ones, for the love of my Jesus, and as long as 
his majesty wills !'^ 

Instantaneously the demons fled in overwhelming shame, 
and a great light from above descended into her room 
filling it with heavenly brightness : in the midst of its 
brilliancy appeared our Lord Jesus Christ, such as he was 
on the Cross, when he opened heaven with his sacred 
Blood. '' Catharine my daughter,'' said he, ''consider 
how I have suffered for thee, and it will never be painful 
for thee to suffer for me." Then he assumed a less 
dolorous form in order to comfort Catharine, and he spoke 
to her of the victory that she had just gained ; but she, 
like St. Anthony, said to him : ''Lord where wast thou, 
when my heart was so tormented ? " "I was in the midst of 
thy heart. " ' ' Ah ! Lord, thou art the everlasting truth and 
I humbly bow before thy majesty ; but how can I believe 
that thou wert in my heart, when it was filled with such 
detestable thoughts ? " "Did these thoughts and tempta- 
tions, give thee pleasure or pain ? " "An excessive pain 
and sadness." " Thou wert sad and in suffering because 
I was hidden in the midst of thy heart. Had I been 
absent, these thoughts would have penetrated thy heart 
and would have filled thee with joy ; but my presence ren- 
dered them insupportable to thee : thou didst wish to 
repel them because thou didst hold them in horror, and 
it was because thou didst not succeed that thou wert borne 
down with sadness. I acted in thy soul, I defended thee 
against thy enemy ; I was in the interior and I only per- 
mitted these attacks from without, inasmuch as they could 



T2 LITE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

prove useful to thy salvation ; when the period which I 
had determined for the combat had elapsed, I sent my 
beams of light and the shades of hell were dissipated, 
because they could not resist the light. Is it not I in 
fine who giveth thee to comprehend that these trials were 
serviceable to thee for the acquisition of strength, and 
that it was thy duty to support them cordially, according 
to my good pleasure ? Because thou hast accepted them 
with thy whole heart, thou art delivered from them by 
my presence; what pleases me is not ti^ouhle, but the 
v:ill that supports it courageously. I created thee in my 
own imao;e and likeness, and I have assimilated mvself to 
thee, in taking thy nature. I never cease rendering thee 
like to me, so long as thou dost offer no obstacle, and 
what I did during my mortal life, I strive to renew in 
your soul as long as your pilgrimage endures. There- 
fore beloved daughter, it is not by thy virtue, but mine, 
that thou hast so generously combatted, and merited such 
an abundant grace ; now I will visit thee oftener and more 
familiarly than ever.'' 

The vision disappeared and Catharine remained ab- 
sorbed with a joy and sweetness that words cannot express ; 
her heart was especially inebriated with the way in which 
our Lord addressed her: ''Catharine, my daughtei'!"^ 
When relating to her Confessor what she then experi- 
enced, she besought him to employ the same expressions, 
in order to renew in her soul their ineffable sweetness. 

From that moment the heavenly Spouse visited her 
with a familiarity which would appear incredible, were 
we ignorant of what has preceded. But the soul that 
knows by experience that the goodness of God is above 
all that man can imagine, will see in the following only 
things very possible and very probable. The Lord ap- 



HER PROGRESS IN SANCTITY. T3 

peared to her frequently and remained a long time with 
her ; sometimes bringing with him his holy Motlier, 
sometimes St. Dominic, and occasionally both together ; 
then St. Mary Magdalen, St. John the Evangelist, St. 
Paul and other Saints, separately or in company, accord- 
ing to his good pleasure. But he came alone most com- 
monly, and conversed with her as one friend with another, 
when on the most intimate terms. She blushingly avowed 
to me that our Lord recited Psalms with her, while walking 
in her room, just as two Religious when reciting their 
Office. The infinite benevolence of God varies his gifts 
in each of his saints, so that his magnificence may be 
made manifest in details as in combination. 

Since I have mentioned the recitation of the Psalms, I 
must inform my readers that Catharine knew how to read 
without having learned from any one. She narrated to 
me herself, that having resolved to learn to read so as 
to recite the Hours and follow the Offices, she had studied 
the alphabet with one of her companions. But after 
having uselessly consume^ several weeks in this labor, the 
thought came to her to obtain from heaven the grace to 
lose no more time. One morning while engaged in pray- 
er, she said to Almighty God : '' Lord, if it be agreea- 
ble to thee that I know how to read, in order to be able 
to recite the Office and sing thy praises, have the good- 
ness to teach me what I cannot learn alone. If not, thy 
will be done ; I will remain without regret in my igno- 
rance, and I will employ with joy, in meditation, the 
time that thou wilt leave me." Before the end of her 
prayer, our Lord taught her so well, that when rising 
from her knees, she knew how to read every kind of manu- 
script, as rapidly and as perfectly as the most highly educa- 
ted persons. What astonished me the most was, that she 



74 LITE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

read easily but without being able to spell her words, 
when she was asked to do so ; she scarcely knew her let- 
ters I Catharine at once procured the '' Office books/ ^ 
and read all the Psalms and whatever enters into the 
composition of the canonical hours. She was particu- 
larly fond of the Yerse and its response, Deus in adju- 
torium meum intende, etc. She translated it and con- 
tinually repeated it, She soon made such progress in 
contemplation, that she gradually omitted her vocal pra- 
yers, and her ecstacies became so frequent, that she could 
scarcely recite the Lord's Prayer without being ravished 
out of her exterior senses, by a heavenly favor which we 
will relate hereafter 



CHAPTER XI. 

OP HEB MARRIAGE WITH OUR LORD, AND OP THE MIRACULOUS RINO 
THAT SHE RECEIVED, 

The soul of Catharine became daily more enriched 
with the grace of the Saviour. She flew rather than 
walked in the paths of virtue, and she conceived the holy 
desire of arriving at so perfect a degree of faith, that 
nothing would henceforth be capable of separating her 
from her divine Spouse, whom her heart aspired alone to 
please. She therefore besought God to augment her 
faith, and render it sufficiently strong to resist any and 
every enemy. Our Blessed Lord answered her, ^*I will 
espouse thee in faith.'' And each time Catherine re- 
newed her prayer, Jesus Christ repeated the same 
answer. One day, at the approach of the holy season 
of Lent, when Christians celebrate the Carnival, or a 
foolish adieu to the viands which the Church is on the eve 
of prohibiting, Catharine withdrew into her cell there to 
enjoy her Spouse more intimately by fasting and prayer : 
she reiterated her petition with more fervor than ever, 
and our Lord answered her: ''Because thou hast shun- 
ned the vanities of the world and forbidden pleasure, and 
hast fixed on me alone all the desires of thy heart, I 
intend, whilst thy family are rejoicing in profane feasts 
and festivals, to celebrate the wedding which is to unite 
me to thy soul. I am going, according to my promise 
to espouse thee in Faith.'' Jesus Christ then spoke 
once more, when the Blessed Virgin appeared ; and with 
(75) 



T6 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

his glorious Mother, St. John the Evangelist, the apostle 
St. Paul, St. Dominic, founder of her Order, and with 
them the prophet David who drew from his harp tones of 
heavenly sweetness. The Mother of God took in her 
holy hand, the right hand of Catharine, in order to pre- 
sent it to her Son, asking Him to deign to espouse her 
in Faith. The Saviour consented to it with love, and 
offered her a golden ring, set with four precious stones, in 
the centre of which blazed a magnificent diamond. He 
placed it himself on Catharine's finger, saying to her : 
'' I thy Creator and Redeemer, espouse thee in Faith and 
thou shalt preserve it pure, until we celebrate together 
in Heaven the eternal nuptials of the Lamb. Daughter, 
now act courageously; accomplish without fear the works 
that my Providence will confide to thee ; thou art armed 
with Faith, thou shalt triumph over all thy enemies." 
The vision disappeared, and the ring remained on the 
finger of Catharine. She saw it, but it was invisible to 
others ! She acknowledged to me, while blushes mantled 
her cheek, that it never left her, and that she was never 
weary with admiring it. There was already one Cath- 
arine, queen and martyr, who, after baptism, espoused 
our Lord. We have here a second, who, after many 
victories won of the flesh and the devil, celebrated also 
her regal espousals with Jesus Christ. 

Let us admire the beauties of her ring, and observe 
its mysterious meaning. What is there stronger than dia- 
mond ? it resists everything by its hardness and penetrates 
the most solid bodies, nothing but lamb's blood can 
cause it to sparkle. In like manner, the faithful heart 
triumphs over all difficulties by fortitude, and only yields 
to the Blood of Jesus Christ. The four precious stones 
indicate four kinds of purity practised by Catharine, 



HER MIRACULOUS MARRIAGE. YT 

purity of intention, purity of thought, of word and of 
action. This marriage seems to me to be a confirmation 
in divine grace ; the ring was a visible pledge of it for 
her, but not for others. Amid the waves of the sea of 
life, she was destined to save a great number of souls, 
by confiding them to the succor of heaven and without 
dreading for herself either shipwreck or tempest. The 
holy Doctors explain why God often, by a special favor, 
reveals to his predestinate that they will persevere in his 
love and in his grace. It is because he wishes to send 
them into the midst of a corrupt world, for the glory of 
his Name, and for the salvation of souls. On the day 
of Pentecost, the Apostles received a striking evidence 
of their mission; it was also said to St. Paul, *' my grace 
is sufficient for thee.'' Sufficit tibi gratia mea. (II. Cor. 
xii. 9.) Catharine, although a woman, was to be an 
apostle in the world and convert many souls ; she re- 
ceived a sensible sign of grace in order to accomplish 
with more courage the divine work that was entrusted to 
her. What was most surprising in Catharine, is that the 
token of grace, transient for others, was permanent and 
ever visible to her, I think that God bestowed it on her 
because of the weakness of her sex ; the novelty of her 
mission, and the perversity of our time were to present 
difficulties greater than any other ; and it was necessary 
that she should be continually sustained in her holy un- 
dertaking. 

With this first part of her history terminates her silent 
and retired life. We shall see in the second what she 
did among men for the glory of God and for the salva- 
tion of souls. Her guide was always our Lord Jesus 
Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and Holy 
Ghost, world without end. Amen 

7* 



seco:n'd part. 



CHAPTER I. 

OUR LORD COMMANDS CATHARINE TO EMPLOY HERSELP FOR THE GOOD 
OF HER NEIGHBOR. 

Our blessed Lord, had lavished on his favorite Spouse 
the sweetness of his grace. He had exercised her soul in 
combat and in victory ; he had bestowed on her admira- 
ble instructions and enriched her with superior virtues. 
So shining a light was not destined to remain hidden, 
but to display its rays abroad. The spouse was about to 
return with interest the talents that the Lord had entrusted 
to her : '' open to me" was said to her, open to me, by 
thy zeal, the door of souls, so that I may enter ; open 
the way by which my sheep will go to seek pasture. 
Open to me, for my honor, the celestial treasure of truth 
and of grace, so as to shed it upon the faithful. **Open 
to me, my sister," by conformity of nature ; my friend, 
by interior charity, my dove, by simplicity of spirit ; my 
immaculate one, by purity of soul and body. And 
Catharine responded to this call, yet, she often acknow- 
ledged to me that every time that our Lord ordered her 
to quit her cell and converse with men, she experienced 
so lively a sorrow, that it seemed to her, her heart must 
break. 

After the mystic alliance that our Lord deigned to 

contract with Catharine, he gradually introduced her to 

C78) 



CHARITY TOWARDS THE NEIGHBOR. 19 

the *^ active life.'' He did not, however, deprive her of 
his heavenly communications, but on the contrary aug- 
mented them, so as to lead her to a higher degree of 
perfection. Frequently in his apparitions, after speaking 
to her of his Kingdom, and revealing to her some of its 
secrets, after having read or recited psalms with her, he 
added : ' ' Go quickly, this is the hour of repast, thy 
parents are going to take their places at the table, thou 
wilt stay there with them ; and then thou wilt return to 
me.'' At these words, Catharine would break forth into 
sobs: '*If I have offended thy Majesty, behold my 
wretched body, punish it immediately, I cheerfully accept 
every thing ; but spare me the grief of being separated 
from thee, even for one instant, my beloved ! What 
will I do at table ? thou knowest full well that I partake 
of a food that those whom thou commandest me to seek, 
know not. Is it in bread only that man finds strength ? 
do not the words that issue from thy mouth better impart 
vigor and energy to the soul of the pilgrim ? Thou 
knowest far better than I, that I fled the society of crea- 
tures to find thee, my Lord and my God. And now that 
I have obtained thy grace, notwithstanding my unworthy- 
ness, must I resign this inestimable treasure, to mingle 
anew in worldly affairs, to fall again into my former igno- 
rance and perchance become odious to thee ? Ah no, no, 
thy infinite goodness will never command anything which 
can separate the soul from thee." Sobs would interrupt 
her, and she would cast herself at our Lord's feet, in hopes 
of winning his consent to remain. Then our Lord, would 
speak, I do not say in these very words, but in ^7?is mean- 
ing : ''Calm thyself, beloved daughter, thou must ac- 
complish all justice, and cause my grace to fructify in thee 
and in others ; far from being desirous of separating from 



80 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

thee, I desire to become more closely united to thee by 
charity towards the neighbor. Thou knowest that my 
love has two commandments ; to love me, and to love thy 
neighbor, now I wish thee to observe these two command- 
ments. Forget not that in thy youth, zeal for souls, 
which I had placed and developed in thy heart, went so 
far as to give thee the idea of disguising thyself so as to 
become a Friar Preacher, and labor for the conversion of 
souls. TThy, therefore, wonder and complain that I con- 
duct thee where thou desirest to go, and for which thou 
didst assume the habit of St. Dominic, that zealous 
founder of an order for promoting the salvation of souls.'' 
Then Catharine said, ^^ Lord not my will but thine be 
done, I am only darkness and thou art all light ; I am 
nothingness and thou art ; I am ignorance and thou art 
the wisdom of the Father ; but. Lord, suffer me to in- 
quire how I shall execute thy commands — my sex presents 
an obstacle, for women have no authority over men, and 
propriety interdicts frequent relations with them." Our 
Lord answered, like the Archangel Gabriel, that all things 
are possible with God ! ^ ' Am I not he who formed both 
man and woman ? my spirit breathes where it will ; to me 
there is no difference of sex or condition, it is as easy for 
me to create an Angel as the lowest insect, and a worm 
of the earth as a new firmament ; it is written of me, that 
I do what I will, (Ps. cxiii. 3.) and naught that the mind 
can conceive is impossible to me. I know it is humility 
and not a disobedient spirit that prompts thee to speak 
thus, and now I wish thee to know that in this age, the 
pride of men has become so great, especially among such 
as believe themselves to be learned and discreet, that my 
justice can no longer endure them, and is about to con- 
found them by a just judgment ; but because mercy is 



CHARITY TOWARDS THE NEIGHBOR. 81 

the gentle attendant of all my works, I design at first to 
give them a salutary confusion, in order that they may 
acknowledge and humble themselves like the Jews and 
Gentiles when I sent them stupid persons whom I filled 
with my divine wisdom. Yes, I will give them women ig- 
norant and weak by their nature, but prudent and power- 
ful through my grace, to confound their arrogance. If they 
recognize their folly,.if they humble themselves, if they 
profit by the instructions which I will offer them in these 
frail but consecrate vases, I will be full of mercy towards 
them ; but should they contemn this salutary disgrace, I 
will send them so many humiliations, that they will be- 
come the scoff of every one. This is the just chastise- 
ment which I administer to pride ; the more the proud 
aim at exaltation the lower will I abase them, even 
beneath themselves. For thee, delay not to obey me, for 
I wish thee to apear publicly : I will accompany thee on 
all occasions, I will continue to visit thee and will direct 
thee in all that thou must do. " 

After these words Catharine prostrated herself with 
filial obedience at the feet of our divine Redeemer ; she 
immediately went forth from her cell, joining her family 
at table as God had commanded her. 

Catharine was corporally with creatures but spiritually 
she never quitted her divine Spouse. All that she saw 
and heard was burdensome to her ; the strength and 
ardor of her love rendered like loug years, the hours 
that she passed with men, and she returned into her cell 
as quickly as she could, in order to meet there Him whom 
her soul cherished : then she would honor him, and adore 
him with renewed fervor. Catharine who was favored 
with an ever-increasing desire of being united to the object 
of her love, took the resolution of receiving him in holy com- 



k 



82 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

miinion as frequently as she could, — and God prepared her 
daily for the relations she was destined to hold with men for 
the salvation of souls. When she drew near to her family 
again, she determined not to remain unemployed, and 
began anew to devote herself to the duties of the house- 
hold. 



I 



CHAPTER II. 

OF SOME WONDERFUL THINGS THAT OCCURRED AT THE COMMENCEMENT 

OF Catharine's relations with the world, and op her exer- 
tions IN supplying the necessities of the poor. 

Catharine resolved in conformity with the will of her 
divine Spouse, to live in a manner that would render her 
useful to her neighbor, and capable of inclining him to 
virtue. She therefore devoted herself to practices of 
humility, and by degrees consecrated herself to works of 
charity, without, however, permitting these to interfere 
with her fervent prayers and extraordinary penances. She 
performed the most menial services of the house, as 
sweeping, washing the dishes, and even the work that 
strictly appertains to the kitchen department. When the 
servant was sick, she entirely supplied her place, and also 
found means to attend to her wants during her sickness ; 
yet these so multiplied occupations did not make Catha- 
rine neglect her heavenly Spouse. She was so inti- 
mately united to him, that no exterior act nor corporal 
fatigue was capable of disturbing their delicious interior 
conversations. Her ecstacies became even more frequent. 
As goon as the thought of Jesus penetrated her mind, 
the soul appeared to retire from the sensual part, and the 
extremities became cold, contracted and insensible. Dur- 
ing her ecstacies, she was often lifted above the earth, 
her body pursuing her soul, in order to show the power 
of the spirit that attracted her. 

Knowing that the surest means of pleasing the divine 
Spouse was to be charitable towards the neighbor, her 

(83) 



84 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

heart burned with the desire of relieving him in all his 
wants. But having promised to observe the three Yows 
of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience, she would no longer 
dispose of what belonged to others without their consent. 
She therefore sought her father, and asked him if she 
might deduct, according to her conscience, the share of 
the POOR from the riches that God had deigned to accord 
her family. The father cheerfully consented, because he 
saw clearly that his daughter was walking in the way of 
perfection, and he was even so considerate as to announce 
to every one in the house, the permission he had accorded. 
^'Let no one,^^ said he, ''prevent my beloved child from 
bestowing alms. I grant her full liberty ; indeed she may, 
if she will, dispense all that is in the house," Catharine 
used almost literally the permission she had received ; 
however, she had the gift of discernment, and gave only 
to those whom she knew had a real need, and then she 
did not wait for such individuals to ask. She was 
acquainted with some poor families, in her neighborhood, 
who were in great distress, but who were ashamed to 
solicit alms. She therefore imitated Saint Nicholas, 
rising early in the morning, so as to carry corn, wine and 
oil, with whatever else was necessary for them. She went 
unattended to the houses of the unfortunate persons. 
God would open the door for her in a miraculous manner, 
while she would shut it quickly and glide stealthily away, 
having deposited her provisions in the house. 

One day as she was sick and suffering from head to 
foot, and felt that it was impossible for her to rise from 
her bed, she learned that a poor widow in the neighbor- 
hood was in absolute destitution, having not even a loaf 
of bread for her little children. Her heart bled, and 
during the whole night she was begging her divine Spouse 



HER SELF-SACRIFICING CHARITY. 85 

to render her sufficient corporal strength to go to the 
relief of this unhappy woman. She arose before day- 
light, ran over the house, filled a little sack with meal, 
took a large bottle of wine, a jug of oil, all the aliments 
that she could find prepared. She succeeded in gather- 
ing these articles together into her cell ; but it appeared 
impossible for her to carry them, all at once to the 
widow's house. She succeeded however in her pious un- 
dertaking assisted by a supernatural strength. 

Her maladies followed not the order of nature ; God 
governed them according to his will, as we shall see in 
the sequel. Catharine imitated several times, notwith- 
standing her infirmities, the matinal charity of St. Nicholas. 
In the following incidents we shall see how^ she renewed 
the beautiful alms of Saint Martin. 

One day while she was in the Church of the Friar 
Preachers of Sienna, a poor man came to beg an alms 
*' for the love of God. '^ She had not at that moment any 
thing to give him, as she carried neither gold nor silver. 
She besought the poor person to accompany her as far as 
the house, promising to assist him as much as she could. 
But he, who was undoubtedly poor in appearance, 
answered her : *' If you have any thing to give me, give 
it directly, I entreat you, for it is ijnpossible for me to 
wait." Catharine would not afflict him more, and sought 
some means of relieving him. Her eyes fell upon a little 
silver Cross which was attached to one of those little 
cords trimmed with knots, on which the Lord's Prayer is 
recited, and called on that account a '' Poier Noster.^^ 
Catharine instantly broke the cord and offered the little 
silver Cross to the poor person, who joyfully accepted it, 
and withdrew at once as though he had not come to ask 
any thing else. The night following, whilst Catharine 

8 



86 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

was praying according to her custom, the Saviour of the 
world appeared to her, holding in his hand the little 
silver Cross all enriched with precious Jewels, and he 
said to her : " Daughter dost thou recognize this Cross,?'' 
''Perfectly well,'' replied Catharine, '' but it was not so 
handsome when it belonged to me." '' Yesterday '' said 
our Lord, ''thy heart gave it to me, an offering of love, 
and these precious stones represented that love. And 
I now promise thee, that on the day of judgment, in 
presence of the angels and of men, I will return it to 
thee such as it now is, so that it may become thy glory : 
and at that solemn moment in which I will manifest the 
justice and the mercy of my Father, I will not conceal 
it, and will never permit that what thou hast done for me 
shall be forgotten." He disappeared after these words, 
and left Catharine wholly absorbed with gratitude and 
ready to continue similar alms, as we shall soon see. 

Our Lord ravished with the charity of his faithful 
Spouse, tempted her, for our example and urged her on to 
great things. One day Tierce having been recited, 
every body left the church ; Catharine alone remained 
with one of her companions to pray longer, and when 
she descended from the chapel of the Sisters intending to 
return home, our Lord appeared to her under the form 
of a young man only half-clad — he appeared to be a 
stranger and aged about thirty-two or thirty-three. He 
implored her, in the name of God, to condescend to give 
him some clothing. Catharine, more and more ardent in 
alms-giving, said to him: "Wait here a moment, my 
friend, until I return from the chapel, and I will give you 
what you ask." And going back into the chapel, she 
took off, without uncovering herself, aided by her com- 
panion, a garment without sleeves which she wore under 



HER SELF-SACRIFICING CHARITY. 87 

her dress to protect her from the cold, and went joyfully 
to offer it to the poor person. The latter was not satis- 
fied and said to her: ** Madam, you have given me a 
woollen garment, but can you not also give me something 
of linen to cover me V^ ^' Follow me," answered Cath- 
arine immediately, '^and you shall be content." Our 
Lord followed his Spouse, without any mutual recognition ; 
when they arrived at the house, Catharine ran to the 
place in which her father and mother put their linen, 
took two under garments and carried them quickly to the 
poor mendicant, who appeared still dissatisfied. **But, 
Madam," said he, '* what shall I do with this garment that 
has no covering for the aruis ? give me those sleeves and 
you will have furnished me with a complete suit." This 
demand, far from importuning Catharine, augmented her 
zeal. She ran over the whole house in search of sleeves ; 
she found at length hanging on the wall, a new dress 
belonging to the domestic ; she took it down, and 
hurriedly removed the sleeves and carried them to the 
man. 

But He who tried Abraham, still insisted and said to 
her: ''Now Madam, you have dressed me, and I thank 
you in the Name of him for whom you did it ; but I have 
at the hospital one of my companions who is in need of 
clothing ; could you not give him some article that I 
might take to him on your part." 

The multiplied demands had not yet chilled the charity 
of Catharine and she sought the means of clothing also 
the other necessitous person who was at the hospital. 
But she remembered that all the inmates of the house, 
her father excepted, complained of her donations and put 
what they had under lock and key. so that she might not 
distribute them unto the poor. She had already given 



88 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

the sleeves that belonged to the domestic who was far 
from being in good circumstances ; she durst not take the 
whole gown ; then she began to examine seriously, 
whether she ought not to give the sole dress that she had 
reserved : charity whispered yes, modesty said no. Char- 
ity triumphed over itself, love for souls was victorious over 
love for the body. She thought that, if she went out not 
having on any dress, those who might see her would be scan- 
dalized, which must be especially avoided. She therefore 
answered the poor man thus : '' See now, good friend, were 
it possible for me to remain without this dress, I would 
most cheerfully give it to you ; but as I cannot and I do 
not find any other just now, I pray you not to wish it of me. 
If I could, I should be delighted to give you all that you 
request." The poor man smiled, and said to her : ''Yes, 
I see that you give me most cordially whatever you pos- 
sibly can; farewell." As he was leaving, Catharine 
fancied that she recognized by certain signs that it was 
the heavenly Guest who so frequently appeared to her, and 
who designed to converse familiarly with her. Her heart 
was at once troubled and inflamed, but humility persua- 
ded her, that she was unworthy of such a favor and then 
she continued her usual daily exercises. 

The night following, whilst Catherine was praying, 
the Saviour of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ, 
appeared to her, under the figure of the destitute man, 
holding in his hand the garment that she had given him, 
richly embroidered with pearls and glittering with pre- 
cious stones. "Beloved Daughter,'' said the Lord to her, 
''dost thou recognize this garment?" And when she 
replied affirmatively, but that she had not given it so 
richly adorned — our Saviour added: "yesterday, thou 
gavest me this article with great love ; thy charity cloth- 



HER SELF-SACRrPICING CHARITY. 89 

ed me, and preserved me from ignominy. Now, I will 
bestow on thee, from my own body, a garment that shall 
be invisible to men, but perceptible to thee, because it 
will preserve from cold both thy soul and thy body, 
untilthe day in which I will clothe thee with honor and 
glory before the saints and angels.'^ And immediately 
he drew from the wound of his adorable Heart a vest- 
ment tinged with the purple hue of his precious blood 
and beaming with light. He put it on her with his own 
sacred hands, saying to her ; ''I give thee on earth this 
vestment with its exclusive right, as a symbol and pledge 
of the hope of glory that shall be thine in Heaven I'^ 
The vision disappeared. The efficacy of this divine 
garment was such, not only for her soul, but also in re- 
ference to her body, that, from that moment, Catharine 
wore neither in summer, nor in winter, more than one 
robe and never added to it even in the most severe cold. 
She has even acknowledged to me, that she did not feel 
cold — her miraculous garment preserved her, so that she 
did not think it possible for her to require more. 

Let us remark the merit of that faithful servant of God. 
She follows in her secret alms-deed, the footsteps of St. 
Nicholas, and imitates in giving her very personal 
clothing, the glorious St. Martin. Not only did our 
Lord appear to her and return her thanks, but the infallible 
Truth also gave her a formal promise of an eternal recom- 
pense, and bestowed on her a sensible and perpetual sign of 
the joy her alms had caused Himj who is of all alms-givers 
the best. He also assures her of final perseverance, and 
distinctly makes known to her the secret of her predesti- 
nation and the splendor of her reward. He did not ac- 
cord similar revelations to the Saints that we have men- 
tioned above, and who had done many, very many 



90 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

charitable deeds — such favors are not to be lightly 
esteemed ; they give the soul a certainty of salvation, 
and an inexpressible joy and comfort. The surety of 
possessing Heaven excites her to the practice of every 
virtue ; it augments patience, fortitude, temperance, zeal 
for pious works, with the theological virtues Faith, Hope 
and Charity. What appeared difficult becomes easy, the 
soul ''can do all things '' for the love of Him who dis- 
closes to her, a predestination to glory and fortifies her 
continually. We have already had striking proofs in the 
relations just given : the proofs are about to become more 
numerous and more striking. 

At another time, Catharine, always inflamed with the 
fire of compassion, learned that a poor person, who had 
voluntarily divested himself of his wealth, for the love of 
God, was on the point of dying with hunger; she desired 
again 'Ho feed'' Jesus Christ in his poor, and filled 
with eggs a linen sack which she had sewed under her 
dress. When approaching the residence of the poor 
person, she paid a visit to a church ; as soon as her 
soul found itself in the house of prayer it rose towards 
Him, to whom it was continually united ; she fell into an 
ecstacy, losing the use of her senses : her body sunk down 
precisely on the side which bore the sack filled with eggs, 
and weighed on it so heavily, as to crush a large thimble 
of metal that was in the same pocket, into three pieces, 
whilst the eggs, which charity had deposited therein, suf- 
fered no injury ; they bore the weight of Catharine dur- 
ing several hours, without their shells being in the least 
impaired. 

Catharine's charity also glorified God by miracles. 
The following wonderful fact which was witnessed by 
about twenty persons ; I heard from her mother, Lapa, 



HER SELF-SACRIFICING CHARITY, 91 

from Lysa, her sister-in-law, and from Friar Thomas, her 
first confessor. At the period in which she used lar2:ely 
her permission to give to the poor wliatever she wished, 
it happened that the wine of a hogshead which the family 
was using at table was found to be spoiled. Catharine 
who in respect to wine, bread and all kinds of food, de- 
sired to give to the poor, in honor of God, what was the 
best in its kind, drew some good wine from another 
hogshead, that no one had yet touched, and distributed 
it daily. This cask, according to its dimensions could 
suffice for the family, for fifteen or twenty days, by close 
economising. Before the family had touched it, Cath- 
arine had distributed it plentifully during a long time — 
Xo one in the house had leave to prevent her. The one 
charged with the wine-cellar began also to draw from the 
cask for the common use, and Catharine was not at all 
remiss on her side ; she even augmented her donations 
of it, presuming there would be less complaint when 
every one partook of it. ISTot only fifteen days, but 
twenty and even a month elapsed, without the hogshead 
suffering any apparent diminution in its contents. Cath- 
arine's brothers and the domestics told this to her father, 
and all were delighted to see the same wine answering so 
long the daily wants of the family. Not only it lasted 
well, but none of them ever remembered to have tasted 
any so good or so pleasant. The quantity and the quality 
were equally amazing. Each and all profited by it, without 
being capable of explaining the phenomenon ; Catharine 
who was alone in the secret of the Benefactor, drew con- 
tinually and gave to all the poor that she could find ; yet 
the wine continued to flow, and its flavor was unchanged. 
A second month passed, and a third, and yet there was 
no difference. At length the vintage-time arrived and 



92 LITE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

casks were to be prepared for the reception of new wine. 
The persons in charge were anxious to empty the inex- 
haustible hogshead in order to fill it with the wine that 
already flowed from the press ; but the divine munificence 
was not wearied, other vessels were prepared and filled, 
but all were insufficient ; then, a young man who was 
conducting the vintage gave orders to empty that hogs- 
head, and bring it to the wine press ; they answered him 
that on the previous evening, a large vessel full had been 
drawn, and that the wine was very strong and very clear, 
and that consequently there must yet remain a consider- 
able quantity. Annoyed at their perseverance, he 
replied : *'Draw out whatever wine may be in it, open 
the cask, and prepare it for the reception of the new wine, 
because we cannot wait any longer.'' They therefore 
opened the cask, whence on the eve, wine beautfuUy 
clear had flowed : but it was so dry, that it seemed an 
impossibility that any liquid could have been drawn from 
it in a length of time. Astonishment seized them all ; 
for they remembered the abundance and the quality of 
the wine which it had afforded, and they verified the ex- 
treme dryness of the hogshead from which it had been 
drawn. This miracle was known to all the city of 
Sienna ; it is attested by the persons then resident in the 
house of Catharine, and I have mentioned above, the 
individuals who related it to me. 



CHAPTER III. 

OF THE WONDERFUL THINGS CATHARINE PERFORMED, WHEN SERVING 
THE SICK. 

Catharine was wonderfully compassionate to the w^ants 
of the poor, but her heart was even more sensitive to the 
sufferings of the sick. To relieve them, she accomplished 
things apparently incredible, but this is no reason for 
suppressing them, and I shall therefore relate them to the 
glory of Almighty God. I have, for proof, the written 
and verbal testimony of Friar Thomas, w^hom I have 
already named, of St. Dominic of Sienna, doctor of 
divinity, and prior provincial of the Roman Province. I 
could also cite Lapa and Lysa with several respectable 
ladies who have affirmed the same things to me. 

There was at Sienna a poor sick woman named Tecca ; 
her indigence was so extreme, that she was forced to seek 
in a hospital the remedies she needed, and which she was 
unable to procure. The hospital in which she entered 
was barely able to furnish what was strictly necessary. 
Her disease grew w^orse and worse, so that the leprosy 
covered her whole body ; the smell arising from her dis- 
ease repelled every one, so that no person had courage to 
take care of her, and preparations w^ere made to remove 
her outside of the city, as is customary in such maladies. 
When Catharine heard this, her charitable heart was 
touched ; she hastened to the hospital, visited the leper, 
kissed her, and offered not only to supply all her necessi- 
ties, but also to become her servant during the remainder 

C93) 



94 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

of her life. Catharine literally fulfilled her promise ; every 
morning and every evening, she visited the patient in per- 
son and gave her whatever was necessary ; she contem- 
plated in this poor leper, the spouse of her soul and 
assisted her in every possible way, and with an indescriba- 
ble respect. and love. 

The exalted virtue of Catharine, however, only inspired 
the leprous woman with pride and ingratitude ; this is 
quite usual with minds destitute of humility, they exalt 
themselves when they ought to humble themselves, and 
offer insults in return for benefits that deserve thanks. 
Catharine's charity and humility rendered Tecca arrogant 
and irritable. When she saw Catharine so solicitous in 
serving her, she considered the charitable attentions due 
to her, and scolded her benefactress with injurious words, 
when every thing did not conform to her wishes. Often 
the servant of our Lord, prolonged her morning devotions 
in the Church and hence came later than usual to the 
hospital. On such occasions Teeca would display her 
ill-temper, in phrases like this: ^' Good morning, my 
Lady, Queen of Fonte-Branda (this was the name of the 
section of the city in which Catharine resided :) your 
Majesty takes pleasure in staying the livelong day in the 
Church of the Friars ; it is there you have wasted all this 
forenoon I am sure, my fine lady : you are never weary 
of the dear Friars ! '' She strove to irritate her by such 
words ; but Catharine always calm, appeased her in the 
oest way she could, and answered with as much meekness 
and humility as if she had been her own mother — begging 
her to be quiet for the love of our blessed Lord ; ''I 
have been a little late it is true, but soon all your little 
wants shall be attended to '' — and quickly lighting the 
fire and putting on water, she would prepare her food. 



HER SERVICE TO THE SICK. 95 

and arrange every thing with such promptitude that the 
ill-tempered sick woman herself would be in surprise. 
This continued a considerable time, her patience and zeal 
never diminishing. Every body was in admiration except 
Lapa, who complained : '' Certainly my daughter you will 
take the leprosy ; I desire that you will not serve that 
sick person.^' But she, who placed all her confidence in 
God, appeased her mother by assuring her that she had 
nothing to fear, because Providence had confided this 
work to her, and would never forsake her. Thus, her 
charity triumphed over all obstacles, and pirsued what it 
had commenced. Satan then had reco rse to other 
means. Our Lord permitted her hands to become covered 
with leprosy, in order to render the triumph of his faith- 
ful spouse the more striking ; her fingers which had 
touched the body of Tecca contracted the infirmity, and 
it became evident that Catharine had taken her conta- 
gious malady. This misfortune did not arrest her, she 
preferred being covered with leprosy to renouncing her 
charitable functions ; her body she looked upon as dust ; 
she was not anxious concerning what might happen to it, 
if what she did were agreeable to our Lord. The leprosy 
lingered a long time, but divine love hindered her from 
perceiving it. At last He who heals when striking, who 
exalts in abasing, and who renders all profitable to those 
who love him, after rejoicing in the courage of his hand- 
maid, would try her no longer. Tecca died, and Cath- 
arine happily assisted her in her last agony. Her body 
was frightful to behold. Catharine carefully washed it, 
clothed it, exposed it, and buried it herself. When this 
last act of charity was terminated, the disease disappeared 
from Catharine's body suddenly ; her hands seemed to be 
whiter than the rest of her person, as though the leprosy 



96 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

had imp irtid additional delicacy to them. Let us pause 
and admire the assemblage of virtues which adorned 
Catharine in this deed. Charity, their Queen, prompted 
it, humility accompanied it, rendering her the servant of 
this unfortunate woman ; patience led her to support with 
joy the violence of the leper's temper as well as the dis- 
gusts inseparable from that loathsome malady ; the strength 
of her faith shows to her in this diseased subject, the 
beloved spouse whom she desired to please, and hope 
never abandoned her, as is shown by her perseverance to 
the end. A miracle crowns all these virtues, for our 
Lord healed instantly those hands that had been attacked 
with leprosy, in serving Tecca during life and after death. 

There was also in Sienna, at the time in which Cath- 
arine devoted herself to the service of the sick and indi- 
gent, a Sister of Penance of St. Dominic, named Pal- 
merina, and who had publicly consecrated herself with all 
her wealth to works of mercy. INTotwithstanding these 
two reasons for belonging entirely to God, the devil made 
her his captive. A secret envy and a remnant of pride 
had inspired her with a profound hatred toward Catharine : 
uoL only did she find it disagreeable to see her, but she 
could not even hear Catharine's name pronounced without 
being thrown into a paroxysm of vexation ; she even de- 
nounced her in public, and was so blinded by passion, 
that she went so far as to calumniate and execrate the 
devoted servant of God. 

Catharine employed all the resources of meekness and 
humility in endeavoring to calm her, but all these ad- 
vances were despised. Catharine therefore addressed her- 
self to her divine Spouse as usual ; by fervent prayers 
she ''heaped coals of fire on her head," (Rom. xii. 20,) 
for these prayers soaring like flames towards God, im- 



HER SERVICE TO THE SICK. 9T 

plored at once his justice and his mercy. Catharine only 
asked mercy, but God who cannot separate these two 
attributes, first manifested justice, and then accorded to 
the prayers of his faithful Spouse a more striking proof 
of mercy. He afflicted Palmerina's body, so as to heal 
her soul, and combatted her rude obstinacy by the sweet 
charity with which he had enriched his Spouse. He also 
augmented Catharine's zeal for the salvation of others, 
by revealing to her the ineffable beauty of that soul which 
was condemned by her own fault, but which she had 
miraculously saved by her merits and her prayers. Pal- 
merina's illness did not cure this disposition ; on the 
contrary, her hatred only increased. Catharine tried 
every means of softening it ; she frequently proffered her 
assistance ; sought to console her by testimonies of affec- 
tion, and rendered her all the services she could imagine ; 
but Palmerina obdurately remained insensible to words 
and deeds prompted by such tender charity; Catharine's 
eagerness to serve her even seemed to render her odious, 
and violent hatred at last provoked her to chase Catharine 
from the house. Then the supreme Judge laid his hand 
of justice on that enemy of charity ! strength suddenly 
forsook her, and without being able to receive the last 
Sacraments, Palmerina found herself in presence of death, 
and of eternal condemnation ! 

As soon as Catharine learned this, she shut herself in 
her own apartment and fervently conjured her Spouse not 
to allow a soul to perish on her account — ^'Lord," said 
she,. *' shall I, a wretched creature prove the occasion of 
loss to a soul created in thy image ? is that the good 
thou wilt use me to effect ? no doubt my sins have caused 
the whole, and yet I will continue to claim thy mercy 

9 



98 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA, 

until my Sister sees her error, and Thou savest the soul 
of that beloved one from death." 

Whilst Catharine thus prayed, more with the heart than 
with the lips, God, so as to excite a still more inflamed 
desire for succoring that perishing soul, made known to 
her, Palmerina's faults and the danger that menaced her : 
and when our Redeemer declared that he could not en- 
dure that a hatred so unjust and so implacable should 
remain without chastisement, Catharine buried herself 
anew in profound supplication, and implored our divine 
and merciful Saviour not to suffer the soul of Palmerina 
to depart until she had been reconciled with God and her 
neighbor. 

Her prayer was so effectual that the patient could not 
die ; her agony endured three days and three nights : all 
were astonished and suffered on seeing this last combat 
so prolonged. Catharine was however continually inter- 
ceding, and the humility of her tears triumphed over the 
Omnipotent. A ray of light from heaven mercifully 
penetrated that soul in the midst of her agony, discovered 
to it this fault, and gave it all the graces necessary for 
salvation. Catharine knew it by revelation, and hasten- 
ed to the house. As soon as Palmerina saw her, she 
bestowed on her every mark of joy and respect ; she 
accused herself of her fault aloud, and died shortly after 
having received the Sacrament, with signs of the deepest 
contrition. Our Lord showed this soul as saved, to his 
spouse. Our Lord then suggested to his beloved Spouse 
that if He, the source of all beauty was so captivated 
with the loveliness of souls, as to descend to earth, and 
shed for them His precious Blood, how much more 
should we diligently labor for each other, so that a crea- 
ture so admira])le perish not.'' *'If 1 have exhibited this 



HER SERVICE TO THE SICK. 99 

soul to thee said our Divine Saviour, it is to awaken in 
thee a more inflamed desire of promoting the salvation of 
souls, in proportion to the grace that I have given thee.'' 

Catharine thanked our Lord with effusion of heart, 
and humbly entreated him to deign in future to show her 
the beauty of the souls who might have relations with 
her, so that she could become more devoted to their sal- 
vation. God granted this favor, saying : ^' Because thou 
hast despised the world, to attach thyself wholly to me, 
who am the perfect Spirit ; because thou hast prayed 
with faith and perseverance for the salvation of that soul ; 
behold I endow thee with supernatural light, which will 
show thee either the beauty or the deformity of all the 
souls that thou wilt meet. Thy interior sense will per- 
ceive the condition of minds, as thy exterior senses 
perceive the state of the body. And that will take place 
not only in respect to persons present, but for all those 
whose salvation «iay form the object of thy solicitude 
and thy prayers, even though they be absent and thou 
hast never as yet seen them." The efiSicacy of that 
grace which God granted her was such, that from that 
moment, she actually saw more distinctly the souls than 
the bodies of persons who approached her. 

One day I rebuked her in private for not preventing 
those who approached her from bending the knee before 
her, she thus answered me ; *' God is my witness that I 
frequently do not perceive the actions of those who sur- 
round me ; I merely occupy myself with their souls, 
without passing any attention to their bodies," Then 
I said to her : "Do you perceive their souls ?" 'Tather/' 
answered she, " I acknowledge that my Saviour deigned 
to accord me that grace, when he heard my prayers, on 
withliolding from eternal flames, a soul that was pre- 



100 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

cipitating herself into them by her own fault. He then 
clearly showed me the ravishing beauty of that soul, and 
since that time, it is rare for me to see any one, without 
directly becoming acquainted with their interior state.'' 
And she added. '* Father, could you but see the 
beauty of a rational soul, you would sacrifice your life a 
hundred times, were it necessary, for its salvation. No, 
naught in this material world is comparable to its 
beauty. '^ I then requested her to give me a full account 
of that transaction, and in consequence she gave me the 
above narrative : onlyj that she softened as far as possi- 
ble, the injuries which the Sister had offered to her ; 
Others of the Sisters worthy of confidence, who were 
witnesses of it, acquainted me with their grievousness. 

I will add one fact, which will complete these remarks. 
I frequently served as interpreter between Gregory XI. 
and Catharine ; she did not understand Latin, and the 
Sovereign Pontiff did not speak Italian. In one of 
these interviews, Catharine asked why she found in the 
court of Rome, in which all the virtues ought to bloom, 
nothing but the contagion of disgraceful vices. The 
Sovereign Pontiff asked her if it were long since she 
arrived at the Court, and on being informed that it was 
merely a few days since, he said to her: ''How have 
you so soon learned what occurs here ?" Then Cathar- 
ine quitting her humble posture in order to assume an air 
of authority, which astonished me, pronounced the 
following words : ''I must declare, to the glory of 
Almighty God, that I have perceived more distinctly the 
infections of the sins that are committed in the Court of 
Kome, while yet in my native city, than those even 
which committed them, and are still daily committing 
them.'' The Pope remained silent ; I could not over- 



HER SERVICE TO THE SICK. 101 

come my surprise, and shall never forget the tone of 
authority, with which Catharine spoke to that great 
Pontiflf. 

It often happened to me and to those who accompanied 
her in journies, to be found in her company in places that 
we had never seen, and also to see for the first time, persons 
of honorable and respectable appearance, but, who were 
in reality addicted to vice. Catharine knew their inter- 
ior directly, and refused to look at them or give any 
answer when they addressed us : and if they would insist, 
she would say: ''jBrst, let us purify ourselves from our 
faults and become delivered from the bondage of Satan, 
then we will converse about God." She would by this 
means soon disencumber us of their presence, and we 
would very soon discover that these persons were plunged 
in incorrigible profligacy. 

The enemy ot mankind, beholding the great merit that 
Catharine was acquiring, and the good she effected in 
souls, by taking care of the sick, sought new means of 
turning her from it ; but his malice was again defeated. 
He desired to render sterile that tree planted by the run- 
ning waters, yet never, on the contrary, did its branches 
bear more fruit. There was at that time a Sister of 
Penance of St. Dominic, called Andrea, who was 
extremely ill with a cancer in the breast which consumed 
and gnawed away gradually her whole chest ; the odor 
from this wound was so disgusting that it was impossible 
to approach her without closing firmly the nostrils, and 
there was scarcely any one to be found that was willing 
to pay the unfortunate Sister a friendly visit. Directly 
Catharine knew this, she comprehended that God 
reserved to her this poor forsaken one ; she hastened to 
comfort her with a cheerful countenance, and offered to 

9* 



102 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

assist her so long as that dreadful illness might last. 
The Sister accepted her offer the more easily as she found 
herself neglected by all others. 

Behold, therefore, the Virgin serving the widow, youth 
succoring old age, and she who languished with the love 
of God, devoted to one who languished with the sorrows 
of earth. Catharine omits no attention, although the 
stench becomes more and more insupportable ; she re- 
mains by the bedside continually, using no precaution, 
uncovers the wound, cleanses it and changes the linens, 
and never exhibits the slightest repugnance, whatever be 
the length of time required or the difficulty in the dress- 
ing. The patient admires that constancy and fulness of 
charity in one so youthful. The enemy of all good, 
irritated at such exalted virtue, has recourse to artifice, 
worthy of himself. One day as the saint uncovered the 
wound, a suffocating odor issued from it ; her will, repo- 
sing on that of Jesus Christ is not moved ; but her 
stomach turns and endangers vomiting. As soon as she 
perceives it, she becomes angry with herself, reproaching 
herself with this weakness : *' What, ' ' said she, *Hhou art 
disgusted at thy Sister who is redeemed by the blood of 
Jesus Christ ! mayst not thou also fall sick, and become 
in even a worse condition — thou shalt not remain unpun- 
ished." And immediately, stooping down over the breast 
of the cancerous woman, she applied her mouth to the 
ulcer, until she was sensible of having overcome her 
disgust, and triumphed over that natural revolt. The 
sick woman cried out: ^* Cease, daughter, dearest 
child, I cannot endure that you should thus poison your- 
self with that horrible corruption.'' But Catharine 
would not rise until she had vanquished the enemy, who 
then left her in tranquillity for a little while. Perceiving 



HER SERVICE TO THE SICK. 103 

that he could effect nothing with Catharine, he charged 
his batteries against the unhappy patient, who was not on 
her guard. This sower of tares commenced with inspir- 
ing a certain wearisomeness of Catharine ^s services, and 
ended at length by changing it into an inveterate hatred. 
As no one except Catharine, was capable of continuing 
these cares, she attributed her perseverance to a species 
of pride, in desiring to do more than others ; and as 
hatred easily believes evil of those that it pursues, this 
wretched woman, more diseased in mind than body, 
listened to the devil to such a degree, as at last to suspect 
Catharine's purity, and to believe that she was commit- 
ting some great sin, when she was absent. Catharine 
remained firm as a column ; she only saw her Spouse and 
continued with joy, before his eyes, the work of zeal that 
she had commenced, strong in patience, she laughed at the 
enemy whose snares she recognized, and she took delight 
in provoking his anger by practising charity w^hich is in- 
supportable to him. Then the devil blinded more and 
more tiie mind of the old woman, and succeeded in irrita- 
ting her so far, that she publicly calumniated Catharine 
in the most shameful manner. 

These accusations spread abroad among the Sisters, and 
some of the more advanced who directed the others, came 
to visit the sick woman and examine whether these reports 
had any foundation. Andrea replied whatever the devil 
suggested to her : the Sisters being extremely provoked, 
called Catharine, and, after having addressed to her cruel 
and cutting reproofs, at last asked her how it was possible 
that she had suffered herself to be seduced and so lose her 
virginity. Catharine, always humble and patient, con- 
tended herself with answering: ^'I assure you. Ladies 
and dear Sisters, that by the grace of Jesus Christ, I am 



104 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

still a Virgin." And when they renewed this absurd 
falsehood, her whole defence consisted in repeating : 
*' Indeed I am a Virgin '' — '* Indeed I am a Virgin ! '' 
This circumstance did not change her conduct at all. 
However her heart grieved at this frightful calumny, she 
continued to serve with the same love the author of it : 
but in the secret of her chamber, she took refuge in 
prayer: '' My omnipotent Saviour, my beloved Spouse, 
thou knowest the delicacy of a female's reputation and 
how carefully thy spouses should preserve their honor from 
the slightest reproach. For this cause thou didst confide 
thy glorious Mother to St. Joseph. Thou art acquainted 
with the efforts of the ' father of lies, ^ to deter me from 
what thy love has urged me to undertake ; help me then, 
my Lord and my God, for thou knowest that I am inno- 
cent, and suffer not the old serpent to prevail against me. '' 
While she thus poured out before God her tears and 
prayers, the Saviour of the world appeared to her : he 
held in his right hand a crown of gold enriched with 
precious jewels, and in his left a crown of woven thorns : 
' ' Beloved daughter, ' ' said he to her, ' ' know that thou must 
bear successively, these very different crowns : choose the 
one that thou dost now prefer. If thou takest the crown 
of thorns for this life, I will reserve the other for thee 
after thy death ; but if now thou takest the precious one, 
hereafter thou shalt wear the thorns. '' *' Lord,'' replied 
Catharine, '*I have long since renounced my own will, 
and have promised to follow thine in all things : hence I 
have no choice to make ; but if thou wilt have me to 
answer, during this life, I desire to be conformed to thy 
blessed Passion, and find my chief delight in suffering 
with thee.'' Saying this she took the crown of thorns 
with both hands, as the Saviour presented it to her, and 



HER SERVICE TO THE SICK. 105 

pressed it on her head with so much violence, that the 
thorns entered on all sides. She felt the wounds sensibly 
after the vision, as she herself informed me. Then the 
Lord said; *^I am all-powerful, and if I have allowed 
this scandal to occur, I can cause it to cease instantly. 
Complete the work that thou hast commenced, yield not 
to Satan who would prevent thee ; I will give thee a 
manifest victory over him ; all that he has prepared against 
thee, shall turn to his shame and thy glory." The ser- 
vant of God remained filled with consolation and with 
courage. 

However, Lapa, her mother, became acquainted with 
the reports that the sick women had spread among the 
Sisters ; and being quite certain of the innocence of her 
daughter, she, indignant at the attempts of Andrea, and 
in great anger said to Catharine : ^[ How often have I 
begged thee to leave that wicked woman ! this is the re- 
compense that she bestows on thee, dishonor before all 
the Sisterhood ; if thou servest her again, if thou dost 
even approach her, I will no longer call thee my child !" 
This was a new snare of the demon for arresting Catha- 
rine; but she, on hearing her mother, kept silent a 
moment ; and then approaching and kneeling before her, 
wshe humbly said to her : * ' My beloved Mother, does the 
ingratitude of men prevent God from daily exercising his 
mercy towards sinners ? did not our Saviour, accomplish 
the salvation of the world on the Cross, without heeding 
the insults offered him ? You are so kind dear mother, 
and you know very well that were I to abandon that sick 
person, no one would take care of her, and she would die 
for want of assistance ; would we not indeed become the 
cause of her death ? She is deceived by Satan, but God 
may enlighten her and lead her to acknowledge her error. '' 



106 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIEXXA. 

She thus appeased her mother, who blessed her, and she 
returned to the diseased woman, and served as cheerfully, 
as though she had said nothing against her. Andrea 
was surprised at seeing no appearance of trouble : she 
could not deny that she was overcome, and she began to 
repent interiorly, and much more as she perceived the 
zeal of her benefactress augmenting daily. 

God at length took compassion on that miserable 
woman and sent her, so as to glorify his Spouse, the fol- 
lowing vision : One day as Andrea was in bed, it seemed 
to her that the moment in which the servant of Jesus 
Christ entered the room and approached the bed (on 
which the sick woman was laid,) a great light came down 
from heaven, surrounded her and filled her with such 
sweetness and joy, that she, so to speak, forgot her suf- 
ferings : she did not comprehend this new state and 
looked about on all sides, when she saw the countenance 
of Catharine, so changed and transfigured, that she no 
longer beheld the daughter of Lapa, but the majestic 
figure of an Angel, and the brilliancy that surrounded 
her, envoloped her as a garment. At this spectacle, re- 
gret for her fault increased in her heart, with bitter self- 
reproach for having so basely calumniated so holy a person. 
This vision which she contemplated with her corporal 
eyes, lasted a long time, and when it disappeared, it left 
the sick woman at once sad and consoled. Her sadness was 
that which according to the Apostle, accomplishes justice. 
(II Cor. viia 10.) She instantly asked pardon of Cath- 
arine, amid tears and sobs, accusing herself of having 
sinned against her, and calumniated her. The exterior 
light which she had seen, illuminated her soul, and 
caused her to recognize the imposture of the Demon. 
Catharine embraced the poor patient, and consoled her 



HER SERVICE TO THE SICK. 107 

the best she could, assuring her that she had not for a 
moment even thought of abandonmg her, or retained the 
slighest ill-feeling towards her ; ''Beloved Mother, '^ said 
she to her, *' 1 knew perfectly w^ell that the enemy of our 
salvation was the originator of those scandals, and that 
he had deceived you by his grievous malice. I do not 
accuse you but Jiim, I thank you on the contrary, for 
the kind affections which induced you to be so anxious 
concerning my virtue. " After thus comforting her, she 
administered to her the usual attentions, and quickly re- 
turned home so as not to lose time. 

But Andrea wholly penetrated with the consciousness 
of her fault, caused those persons before whom she had 
calumniated Catharine to be called ; she confessed with 
moans her deep guilt and how fearfully the devil had 
deceived her ; she proclaimed aloud that she of w^hom 
she had uttered so much evil, was not only innocent, but 
that she w^as a saint filled with the Spirit of God, and 
that she has now a proof of it. And as they demanded 
an explanation she responded that she had never felt nor 
comprehended what were spiritual sweetness and conso- 
lation before having seen Catharine transfigured before 
her and environed with light. This testimony increased 
Catharine's reputation with the public, and the devil who 
had endeavored to tarnish it, served on the contrary, 
through the intervention of the Holy Spirit, to glorify it. 
But our Saint remained as calm in triumph as in trial ; 
she pursued her charitable work, applying at the same 
time to the study of her own nothingness. He who alone 
exists by his own power charged himself with honoring 
her ; but the implacable enemy who may be indeed van- 
quished, but never destroyed, returned to the charge, and 
determined again to conquer, by the revolt of nature. 



108 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

One day as the servant of God uncovered the horrible 
ulcer, to wash it, the infected odor which arose from it, 
inspired a violent disgust which the devil strove to increase. 
Her stomach bounded with nausea. This repulse was so 
much the more painful to her, as, just then, the new vic- 
tories which she had gained by the grace of the Holy 
Spirit had helped her to acquire new virtues. Filled with 
a holy anger against herself, vshe said : ''thou shall swal- 
low what inspires thee v'ith such horror /^^ and imme- 
diately, collecting in a saucer the water in which she had 
washed what flowed from the wound, she went aside and 
drank the whole. I recollect that one day, when others 
related this circumstance in her presence, she said to me, 
in an undertone: ''Father, I assure you, that in my 
whole life, I never tasted any thing so sweet and so agree- 
able.'' 

I found in the writings of Friar Thomas, her first Con- 
fessor, that the same thing happened to her, when her 
mouth was applied to the ulcer ; she acknowledged to 
him that she then perceived a delicious odor. In the 
night that followed this last victory, the Saviour of men 
appeared to Catharine while she was praying ; he showed 
her the five sacred wounds that he received for our salva- 
tion on the Cross. ''Beloved,'' said he to her, "thou 
hast sustained for me great combats, and, with my assis- 
tance, thou hast remained victorious. Never hast thou 
been dearer or more pleasing to me, — yesterday in par- 
ticular thou didst ravish my heart. Not only didst thou 
despise sensual pleasures, disdain the opinions of men, 
and surmount the temptations of Satan, but thou didst 
overcome nature, by joyfully drinking for my sake a loath- 
some, horrible beverage. Well ! since thou hast accom- 
plished an action so superior to nature, I will bestow 



HER SERVICE TO THE SICK. 109 

on thee a liquor above nature." And placing the 
right hand on Catharine's neck, he drew her to the 
wound of his sacred side, saying to her : *' Drink, daugh- 
ter, that luscious beverage which flows from my side, it 
will inebriate thy soul with sweetness and v^ill also plunge 
in a sea of delight thy body, which thou didst despise 
for love of me.'' Catharine thus placed at the very foun- 
tain of life, applied her mouth to the sacred wound of 
the Saviour, her soul drew thence an ineffable and divine 
liquor; she drank long and with as much avidity 
as abundance ; in fine, when our blessed Lord gave her 
notice, she detached herself from the sacred source, sati- 
ated, but still eager, because she experienced no repletion 
at being satiated, nor pain at still desiring. ineffable 
mercy of the Lord, how delightful thou art to those who 
love thee ! how delicious to such as taste thee ! Alas, 
Lord, I, and those who have not experienced it, can not 
comprehend it ; the blind cannot judge of the beauty of 
colors, nor the deaf the charms of harmony. So as not 
to be ungrateful, we contemplate and admire, as far as 
we are able, the great favors thou dost accord to thy 
Saints, and, although they far surpass us, we thank thy 
divine Majesty for them in proportion to our strength. 

Dear reader, observe the wonderful virtue of Catharine. 
Admire that inspiration of charity which inclines her to 
perform an act so repugnant to nature : consider the zeal 
which influences her, notwithstanding the revolt of her 
senses ; remark that amazing courage that cannot be 
intimidated by the shocking calumny and odious ingrati- 
tude of the sick woman ; contemplate, in fine, that soul 
which derives its strength from God, which praise cannot 
render haughty, and which gains over the flesh a last 
triumph, by drinking what it shuddered with horror 

^ . 10 



110 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

merely to see! All tliis is noble, and there are very few, 
especially in our day, who would perform similar deeds. 
But consider, also, the recompense. After Catharine had 
subdued her thirst at the side of our blessed Redeemer, 
grace so superabounded in her soul, that her body expe- 
rienced its effects ; it became impossible for her to take 
even the insignificant amount of nourishment which she 
took before. I will give a full account of it ere long, 
but it is time to terminate this important Chapter, which 
I could not well diminish in length. 



CHAPTER IV. 

OP HER MA.NNER OF LIVING AND OF THE REPROACHES WHICH WERE 
MADE HER CONCERNING HER COMPLETE ABSTINENCE. 

The incomparable Spouse of souls had tried his be- 
loved daughter in the furnace of great tribulations : he 
taught her to overcome the enemy of souls in every 
variety of combat, it only remained for him to crown her 
in a manner worthy of his own divine munificence ; but, 
the souls that she was destined to succor in their pilgrim- 
age, had not yet profited by her virtues as much as the 
Saviour desired and had promised, and it was requisite 
that Catharine should remain in the world, receiving in 
it the pledges of her eternal reward. Our Lord made 
known by revelation, to his faithful servant the celestial 
life that slie was to lead in this valley of tears. 

One day while she was praying in her little chamber, 
he appeared to her, and announced to her the kind of new 
miracle that he was going to operate in her : " Learn 
my sweetest daughter, that henceforth thy life will be 
filled with prodigies so amazing that ignorant and sensual 
men will refuse to believe them. Many even of those 
persons who are attached to thee, will doubt them and 
fear an illusion caused by excess of love to me. I will 
diffuse in thy soul such an abundance of grace, that thy 
body itself will experience its effects and will live no 
longer except in an extraordinary manner ; thy heart 
shall become so ardent for the salvation of the neighbor, 
that thou shalt forget thy sex and its reserve : thou shalt 

(111) 



112 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

no more avoid as formerly the conversation of men, but 
thou shalt expose thyself to every species of fatigue in 
order to save their souls ; thy conduct will scandalize 
many who will contradict thee and accuse thee publicly. 
But be not alarmed, and be not anxious ; I will be ever 
with thee, and I will deliver thy soul from the deceitful 
tongue and from the lips that speak falsely. Follow 
therefore courageously, the inspiration which will en- 
lighten thee ; for I shall draw, by thy aid, numerous 
souls from the gulf of hell, and I will conduct them, with 
the help of my grace, to the Kingdom of Heaven.'' 
Catharine heard these words several times, and when our 
Lord repeated to her : '* Fear nothing, be not trou- 
bled'' — she answered: ^* Thou art my God, and I am 
but thy little handmaid : may thy will ever be accom- 
plished, but remember me and incline unto my aid, 
according to the greatness of thy mercy. " The vision 
disappeared, and Catharine reflected interiorly what that 
change could be, that was announced to her. 

From day to day however, the grace of God increased 
in her soul, and the spirit of God so abounded within 
her, that she sung with the Prophet: ^^For thee my 
flesh and my heart hath fainted, God of my heart, and 
my eternal inheritance." (Ps. Ixxii. 26.) and again, '' I 
remember God, and was delighted, and being exercised 
my spirit swooned away." (Ps. lxxvi.4.) God therefore 
inspired her with the thought of receiving her divine 
Spouse as often as possible in the Holy Eucharist, since 
she could not enjoy him yet in Heaven — hence she adopt- 
ed the habit of daily communion, except when hindered 
by her own indisposition and by the cares which she 
bestowed on others. 

Her desire for frequent communion was so vehement, 



HER MIRACULOUS MANNER OF LIVING. 113 

that when it was not satisfied she suffered so violently as 
to become in danger of death. Her body which partici- 
pated in the joys of her spirit, necessarily shared in the 
pain attendant on its privations. We shall hereafter 
dilate on this subject ; at present we intend explaining her 
miraculous way of living, according to her confessions to 
me, and the writings of her first confessor. 

Heavenly favors and comforts so overwhelmed the soul 
of Catharine after that last vision, that they inundated, 
so to speak, her body. Its vital functions became so modi- 
fied, that food was no longer necessary to her, and 
aliments caused her serious suffering. When she was 
obliged to take food, she was so incommoded that it 
would not remain in the stomach — and it would be quite 
impossible to describe her grievous pains on such occa- 
sions. In the beginning, this state appeared incredible 
to all, even to her relatives and those who were truly 
attached to her, they called this extraordinary favor from 
God, a temptation or a snare of Satan. Even her Con- 
fessor commanded her to take food daily and not to give 
heed to any visions that would give her contrary advice. 

In vain, Catharine assured him that she was well and 
strong, so long as she received no nourishment, and be- 
came sick and weak as soon as she used it, — he continually 
prescribed to her to eat ; she obeyed through virtue, as 
far as she was able, but these endeavors reduced her to 
such a state that fears were entertained for her life. She 
therefore caused her Confessor to be called and said to 
him: ''Father, if through excessive fasting, I was in 
danger of death, would you not prohibit me from fasting, 
so as to prevent me from committing suicide ? ** Without 
doubt ^' answered her Confessor. ^* But, ^^ resumed she, 
*' is it not as bad to expose one's self to sin by eating as 

10* 



114 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

by fasting ? If therefore you see, by the numerous ex- 
periments of which you have been witness, that I am 
killing myself by taking nourishment, why do you not 
forbid me, as you would forbid me to fast, if the fast pro- 
duced a similar result ?'' There could nothing be said 
in reply to this reasoning, and her Confessor, who saw 
the danger to which he was exposing her, said to her : 
"Henceforth act according to the inspirations of the Holy 
Ghost, for I perceive that God is accomplishing marvelous 
things in you." 

Catharine suffered excessively from her parents and 
friends ! Those who surrounded her, measured her words 
and deeds, not by God's rule, but by the common one, 
and their own ; they were in the valley and wished to 
judge concerning what was on the summit of the moun- 
tain ; they ignored principles, yet would discourse pru- 
dently concerning consequences ; the brightness of the 
light blinded them and prevented them from appreciating 
colors ; they disturbed themselves unreasonably and 
blamed the rays of that radiant star ; they wished to di- 
rect her whose lessons they could not even understand ; 
night was reproaching day for its splendor ! They secretly 
accused her, calumniated her under an appearance of zeal, 
and forced, as it were, her Confessor to deviate from her 
way. It would be too lengthy to describe the interior 
trials and anguish of Catharine. Devoted to obedience 
and self-contempt, she knew not how to excuse herself 
and durst not resist the orders of her Confessor, and yet 
she was convinced that the will of God was opposed to 
that of men ; but in the fear of displeasing him, she 
could not decide to disobey and thus scandalize the neigh- 
bor. Prayer was her refuge, and she poured out at the 
Saviour's blessed feet tears of melancholy hope, humbly 



HER MIRACULOUS MANNER OF LIVING. 115 

supplicating her to deign to make his will known to those 
who opposed her, above all to her Confessor, whom she 
dreaded to offend. 

She could not say to him, as did the apostles to the 
chief priests : " It is better to obey God than men." (Acts 
V. 29.) She would have been answered that the demon 
transforms himself into an angel of light : that we should 
not rely on our own prudence, but follow the counsels 
given. The Lord heard Catharine on this occasion as in 
others ; he enlightened her Confessor, and changed his 
opinion ; but that did not hinder others thinking ill of 
her, and failing in discernment. Had they examined 
attentively, how God had unveiled to her the artifices of 
Satan ; how he had taught her to combat and obtain 
glorious victories; had they remarked to what a high de- 
gree she was endowed with the gift of understanding, and 
what reason she had to say with the Apostle : ^^ we are 
not ignorant of its wickedness.'' Non enim ignoramus 
astucias ejus. (II. Cor. 11.) — they would have observed 
silence, and not dared, in the imperfection of their 
knowledge, to exalt themselves above so perfect a master. 
Little rivulets ought not to change the course of majestic 
rivers ; I have often said this formerly to those who cen- 
sured Catharine, and I repeat it here, so that certain in- 
dividuals may profit by it. 

But let us return to our subject. The first time that these 
extraordinary facts occurred we were at the beginning 
of Lent, and Catharine, supported by the grace of God, 
remained till the feast of the Ascension, without taking 
any corporeal nourishment, and without any diminution 
of strength or gaiety. Are not the fruits of the Holy 
Ghost, charity, joy and peace ? (Gal. v. 22. Did not 
the Eternal truth say, that man liveth not by bread alone, 



116 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIEXNA. 

but by every word that cometli from the mouth of God. 
(St. Matt. iv. 4,) and ''the just liveth bv faith. '^ (Rom. 
i. n.) On the day of the Ascension she was able to eat, 
as our Lord had told her, and as she had announced to 
her Confessor. She ate in effect, bread and vegetables ; 
she then recommenced her fast, and ended by observing 
it almost continually, interrupting it sometimes only, and 
at long intervals. Whilst her body fasted, her soul took a 
more and more abundant nourishment. She approached 
as frequently as she could, the holy Table, and there de- 
rived every time, with ardor, a new supply of graces. 
Her organs had suspended their functions ; bat the Holy 
Spirit, which was acting in her, vivified at once her soul 
and body, and he that believes in divine things can affirm 
that her whole existance was supernatural and miracu- 
lous. 

Often have I seen that feeble body reduced to the last 
extreme of weakness ; but if in the moment that we ex- 
pected to see her expire, an occasion presented of render- 
ing any honor to God or aiding a soul, not only life 
returned to her, but with it such wonderful energy, that 
she walked, acted and performed more than those who 
were in good health, and without appearing to suffer the 
slightest fatigue. How explain this fact otherwise than 
by the action of the Holy Spirit, which sustained simul- 
taneously the soul and body ? When she began to 
live without taking nourishment, her Confessor asked her 
if she did not sometimes experience an appetite. '' God 
satisfies me so," she answered, *'in the holy Eucharist, 
that it is impossible for me to desire any species of corpo- 
ral nourishment. " And as her Confessor inquired 
whether she did not at least experience hunger on the 
days in which she did not communicate, ''his sole 



HER MIRACULOUS MANNER OF LIVING. IIT 

presence satiates me,'' said she, ^'and I acknowledge 
even that it suffices for me to see a priest that has just 
said Mass, to be happy.'' 

Catharine was, therefore, at once satisfied and fasting ; 
deprived of all exteriorly, but abundantly nourished in 
the interior ; thirsty in her body, but inundated in her 
soul, by torrents of living waters, and always when 
necessary strong and joyous. But the old and tortuous 
serpent could not endure such a great favor from Heaven, 
without seeking to empoison it with the venom of envy. 
He excited against the servant of G-43d, on the occasion 
of her extraordinary fast, all those who knew her, whether 
laymen or Religious. We must not be astonished to find 
that even religious persons were opposed to her. When 
the self-love of such is not entirely dead, it sometimes 
arouses a more dangerous jealousy in them than in others, 
especially when they behold things which are impossible 
for them to attain. Let us recal the story of the Fathers 
of the celebrated Thebaide ; one of the disciples of St. 
Macarius, having taken secular clothes, went out and pre- 
sented himself at a considerable monastery, which was 
under the direction of St. Pacomius. At the earnest 
request of the Superior he entered the community ; but 
the austerity of his life, and his extraordinary penances so 
frightened the other monks that they almost revolted against 
Pacomius, and came one day to tell him : *' that unless 
he immediately dismissed this monk, they would one and 
all quit his monastery on that very day,'' If men who 
appeared to be almost perfect spoke in this manner, 
what might we not expect from those of our day ? 

Every one murmured against Catharine's fast. Some 
said : No one is greater than our blessed Lord, who ate 
and drank. His glorious Mother did the same, as well as 



118 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

the Apostles, for their divine Master recommended them to 
eat and drink what they could find. Edentes etbibentes, 
quae apud illos sunt, (St. Luke, x. 7.) Who can 
surpass, or even equal them ? Others said that all the 
Saints had taught, by their words and their examples, 
that we should never be singular in our way of living. 
Others pretended that all excess is vicious, and that such 
as fear God ought to avoid it. Others respected her in- 
tentions and only said that she was the victim of an 
illusion. Others again, more coarse and vulgar, calum- 
niated her publicly, and repeated continually that it was 
a kind of vanity that prompted her to wish to be noticed ; 
that she did not fast really, but fed herself well in secret. 
If I do not refute all these rash and absurd judg- 
ments, I should think that I was offending God. I pray, 
therefore, that it be remarked, that if the objection that 
is drawn from our Lord, the Blessed Yirgin and the 
Apostles be just, it would follow that St. John the 
Baptist was greater than our Lord himself : for it is said 
of him in the Gospel that John neither eat nor drank, 
whilst the Son of Mary on the contrary ate and drank. 
(Matt. xi. 18.) it would also follow that Anthony, the 
Macariuses, the Hilariens, the Serapions and many other 
hermits, who fasted more than the Apostles, consequently 
surpassed them. If it be objected that John in the wil- 
derness, aad the monks in Egypt did not entirely fast, but 
took from time to time some food, what shall be said of 
St. Mary Magdalen, who remained thirty-three years in a 
grotto, without touching any aliment, as is related in 
history, and the place in which she dwelt also proves, 
which was, at that time, inaccessible. What shall be said 
of the saints who also passed considerable time without 
eating, and who contented themselves for the most part of 



HER MIRACULOUS MANNER OF LIVING. 119 

the time with receiving holy Commnnion on Sunday. No, 
let those who are unaware, be informed that sanctity is not 
measured by fasting but by holy charity : let them know 
that we should not decide upon things with which we are 
not acquainted, and also hear the words of incarnate 
wisdom on this subject. (Luke, vii. 32.) ** Whereunto 
then shall I liken the men of this generation ? and to 
what are they like ? They are like children sitting in the 
market-place, and speaking one to another, and saying : 
we have piped to you, and you have not danced : we 
have mourned, and you have not wept?^' And our 
Lord adds. '^ John the Baptist came neither eating 
bread nor drinking wine ; and you say : he hath a devil. 
The son of man is come eating and drinking ; and you 
say, that he is a glutton and a drinker of wine.'' These 
words of the Saviour refute those who offered the first 
named objection to Catharine. 

As to the second, those who avoid all extraordinary 
ways, we may easily reply, that if a soul ought not to 
adopt these ways through an impulse of self-will, she 
ought to follow them with gratitude, when God deigns to 
indicate them ; she would otherwise despise his grace, 
and when the Scripture says that the just man ought not 
to seek what is above him, he adds directly : ^For many 
things are shown to thee above the understanding of men. 
(Eccl. iii.25.) That is, thou must not be inquisitive con- 
cerning things above thee ; but if God reveals it to thee, 
be thankful. This happened in the case of which we are 
now speaking ; the agency of God was manifest and no 
one had a right to apply the common rule. The servant 
of God concealed this under the veil of sincere humility, 
when she answered those who asked her why she took no 
nourishment: '*God,'' said she, **on account of my 



120 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

sins, has stricken me with this infirmity which prevents 
me from taking food ; I desire to eat, but it is impossible. 
Ask God, I entreat you to pardon the sins for which I 
am suffering. '' As if she had said, God is the author 
of this and not myself. So as to destroy even the 
appearance of vanity, she attributed the whole to her 
sins, and in so doing she did not speak in contradiction 
with what she thought, because she was persuaded 
that God permitted the false judgments of men, for 
the punishment of her faults : she imputed to herself 
all the ill that happened, and to God alone all the good. 
This was her rule in every circumstance. What we 
have just advanced should also serve as a reply to those 
who recommend the avoiding of extremes. An extreme 
is never culpable when God indicates it, and in such a 
case, man ought not to shun it. 

As to such as pretend that she was in illusion, I beg 
them to be so kind as to answer me — if hitherto Cath- 
arine had perfectly triumphed over the snares and temp- 
tations of the demon, is it probable that she would have 
yielded in this circumstance ? But admit this, who could 
preserve the strength of her body ; if we say that the 
devil could do it, who could have maintained her mind in 
joy and peace, when it was deprived of all interior com- 
fort ? These, are fruits of the Holy Spirit which the 
demon never could produce ; it is written that ^^ the fruits 
of the Holy Ghost are charity , joy and peace.^^ (Ep. 
Gal. V. 22.) and is it impossible to attribute them to the 
enemy of salvation. May we not on the contrary suspect 
him who would say the opposite, of being the sport of the 
evil spirit ? If the devil were capable of seducing her 
who had so frequently defeated his wiles in her own soul 
and in the souls of others, her whose body lived and was 



HER MIRACULOUS MANNER OF LIVING. 121 

sustained in a supernatural manner, her whose soul en- 
joyed continual peace and spiritual joj, how much more 
rational is it to presume that he is deceived to whom 
none of these circumstances have occured . It is highly 
probable that if any one be deceived, it is not she who 
had been preserved previously. In fine it is better to 
answer nothing to skillful calumniators, they merit only 
the contempt of upright persons. What degree of vir- 
tue would they not attack ; those who resemble them, 
called our Blessed Saviour, a demon, why should they not 
defame his faithful servant. 

Catharine full of the spirit^of prudence and desirous of 
imitating her divine Master, remembered that when St. 
Peter asked him for the two didrachmas that he was 
obliged to pay for the tax, he proved to him that he was 
exempt; but that he added: ^'But that we may not 
scandalize them, go to the sea, and cast in a hook : and 
that fish which shall first come up take ; and when thou 
hast opened its mouth, thou shalt find a stater ; take that, 
and give it to them for thee and me." (Matt. xvii. 26) 
Catharine was willing to appease their murmurs and de- 
termined that every day, she would go once and take a 
seat at the common table, and endeavor to eat. Although 
she used neither meat, nor wine, nor drink, nor eggs, and 
did not even touch bread, what she took or rather what 
she tried to take, caused her such sufferings that those 
that saw her, however hard hearted they were, were moved 
to compassion : her stomach could digest nothing, and 
rejected whatever was taken into it ; she afterwards suf- 
fered the most terrible pains and her whole body appeared 
to be swollen ; she did not swallow the herbs which she 
masticated, she only drew from them their juice and re- 
jected their substance. She then took pure water to cool 

11 



122 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

her mouth ; but every day, she was forced to throw up 
what she had taken, and that with so much difficulty, that 
it was necessary to assist her by every possible means. 

As I was frequently witness of this suffering, I felt an 
extreme compassion for her, and I counselled her to let 
men talk, and spare herself such torture ; she answered 
me with a smile : *' Is it not better to expiate my sins at 
present, and not be punished during all eternity ? The 
judgments of men are very profitable to me, since they 
cause me to avoid infinite pains by enduring these tran- 
sient ones; no ! I certainly ought not to shun God's 
justice, and the great graT;e he accords me of allowing 
me to make satisfaction in this world. '^ She was so con- 
vinced that she was thus paying a debt of justice to God, 
that she said to her companions : " Come let us do fit 
justice to this miserable sinner. " In this way all the per- 
secutions of men and all the attacks of Satan contributed 
to her perfection. 

One day as we were conversing together of God's 
graces, she said to me : '' Did we but know how to use 
the graces that God bestows on us, we would profit by 
all that happens to us. In favorable events or in contra- 
dictions, say always : * I must reap something from this.' 
were you to act thus, you would very soon be rich.'' 
Alas ! how much I might have profited by this lesson and 
numerous others. But you, my reader, do not imitate 
me, but meditate her instruction and follow her example. 
I entreat the Author of all good to enlighten you, and 
grant me also light to imitate this holy soul with courage 
and perseverance, with this I terminate this chaper, in 
which I have just told what I learned from Catharine her 
self or the Confessor that preceded me. 



CHAPTER V. 

OP Catharine's wonderful ecstacies and of the great reve- 
lations WHICH SHE RECEIVED FROM GOD. 

Our Lord, who had bestowed on his Spouse a corporal 
life so extraordinary, also treated her soul in a marvelous 
manner, and favored it with ineffable consolations ; her 
physical strength was supernatural and had its source in 
the abundance of grace, that she received ; hence having 
spoken of the prodigy of her material existence, it is suitable 
also to speak of the miracles by which her soul was en- 
riched. From the moment in which this holy virgin 
allayed her thirst at the wounded side of our Lord, grace 
was so abundant and supreme in her soul, that she was, 
we may say, in a continual ecstacy. Her mind was so 
constantly and intimately united to her Creator, that the 
inferior part of her being ordinarily ceased its functions. 
A thousand times we have been witnesses of it : we saw 
and touched her arms and hands, so strongly contracted 
that they could have been more easily broken than their 
position changed. Her eyes were entirely closed, her 
ears heard no noise, however great it might be, and all 
her corporal senses became powerless. And all this will 
not surprise, if attention be given to what follows. God 
began from that time to manifest himself to his Spouse, 
not only when she was alone, as formerly, but in public, 
when she walked, or when she was remaining tranquil ; 
and the fire of love that inflamed her heart was so great, 
that she told her Confessor that it was impossible to find 
expressions to depict what she experienced. 

(123) 



124 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

One dav, in the fervor of her prayer, she said with the 
Prophet : " Create within me God a new heart, '^ etc. 
And supplicated onr Lord to condescend to take away 
her own heart and her own will. It seemed to her that 
her Spouse presented himself to her, opened her left side, 
took out her heart and carried it with him, so that in 
reality she no longer perceived it in her breast. This 
vision was striking and her attendant symptoms agreed 
with it so well, that when she spoke of it to her Confesssor, 
she assured him that she had really no heart Her Con- 
fessor began to laugh, and rebuked her for saying any 
thing of the kind, but she only renewed her assurance. 
*' Really, Father, " said she to him, *^ as far as I can 
judge of what I experience in my person, it seems to me 
that I have no heart. The Lord appeared to me, opened 
my left side, drew out my heart, and went away.'^ And, 
as her Confessor declared to her that it would be impos- 
sible to live without any heart, she answered that nothing 
was impossible with God, and that she had a heart no 
longer. Some days later, she was in thC' Chapel of the 
Church of the Friar Preachers, in which the Sisters of 
Penance of St. Dominic assemble : she remained there 
alone so as to continue her prayer, and was disposing 
herself to return home, when on a sudden she saw herself 
environed with a light from Heaven, and amid this light, 
the Saviour appeared to her, bearing in his sacred hands 
a Heart of vermillion hue and radiating fire. Deeply 
affected with this presence and this splendor, she prostra- 
ted herself on the ground. Our Lord approached, 
opened anew her left side, placed in it the Heart which 
he bore, and said to her: *' Daughter, the other day I 
took thy heart, to-day I give thee mine, and this will 
henceforward serve thee.'' After these words he closed 



EXTRAORDINARY REVELATIONS. 125 

her breast ; but, as a token of the miracle, he left there a 
cicatrice that her companions have frequently assured me 
they had seen, and when I questioned her pointedly on 
this subject, she avowed to me that the incident was 
really true, and that from that period she had adopted the 
custom of saying : *^My God, I recommend to thee thy 
Hearf 

When Catharine had obtained that heart in so sweet 
and wonderful a manner, the abundance of grace which 
her soul possesssed, rendered her exterior actions more 
and more perfect and multiplied the divine revelations in 
the interior. She never approached the altar, without 
seeing some beautiful vision superior to the senses, above 
all when she received holy communion. She often per- 
ceived in the priest's hands a new born infant, or a lovely 
youth, sometimes a furnace of fire, into which the priest 
seemed to enter at the moment in which he consumed the 
adorable Eucharist. Commonly she perceived so delicious 
aad penetrating an odor, when she received the sacred 
Host, that she was on the point of swooning away. As 
soon as she approached the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, 
an ineffable joy was awakened in her soul, and caused her 
heart to beat so violently, that persons who surrounded 
her could distinctly hear it. Friar Thomas was advertised 
of this, and being her Confessor, he verified this circum- 
stance with great care and affirmed it in his writings. 
This noise, occasioned by the beating of the heart, did 
not at all resemble any thing that could have been pro- 
duced by the organs ; it was something singular and 
supernatural, effected solely by the power of the Creator. 
Did not the Prophet say — '* My heart and my flesh shall 
exalt in the Lord." Cor meum et caro mea exultave- 

riuit in Deum vivum. (Ps. Ixxiii. 3.) The Prophet 

11* 



126 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

styles God the living God, because that agitation, that 
trembling which comes from him, purifies man, instead 
of putting him to death. 

After that wonderful change of the heart, Catharine 
appeared to herself to have undergone an amazing 
change : '' Father, '' said she to her Confessor, " do you 
not perceive that I am no longer the same ; I am com- 
pletely changed : Oh ! did you but know what I 
experience 1 No, — certainly, if it were comprehended 
what passes within my soul, there would be no harshness 
nor pride that could resist it. All that I can say falls 
short of reality.'^ She sought however to give an idea : 
*^My soul '' said she, ''is so inebriated with joy and 
delight, that I am astonished that it remains in my body. 
Its ardor is so great, that external fire is as naught in 
comparison with it ; it seems to me that I should find re- 
freshment in that. And this ardor operates in me such a 
renovation of purity and humility, that I feel as though I 
had returned to my fourth year of age. The love of the 
neighbor also augments in me to such a degree, that it 
would be my greatest pleasure to die for any one.'' All 
this she told her Confessor in secret, and concealed it as 
far as possible from others. These confidential interviews 
display the abundance of grace that the Lord poured 
into the soul of his servant. If I were to extend the 
subject, I should fill volumes ; but I limit myself to 
citing some facts w^hich prove more evidently the sanctity 
of Catharine. Among these facts, I cannot pass in 
silence the admirable visions which she received from 
Heaven. One day the King of kings and the Queen his 
Mother, appeared to her with St. Mary Magdalen, to 
console and fortify her. Our Lord said to her : ''What 
wilt thou; which wilt thou choose, thine or mineV^ 



EXTRAOBDINARY REVELATIONS. 12t 

Catharine wept and humbly replied, like St. Peter ; 
'^ Lord, thou knowest what I will, thou knowest that I 
have no other will than thine, and that thy Heart is my 
hearf Then the thought was suggested to her that 
Mary Magdalen gave herself totally to our Lord, when 
she bathed his sacred feet with her tears ; and as she felt 
the sweetness and the love which that Saint then experi- 
enced, her eyes remained fixed upon her. Our Lord to 
correspond to her desires, said to her. ''My beloved 
daughter, in order to sustain thee, I give thee, Mary 
Magdalen for mother ; thou canst address thyself to her 
in all assurance, I charge her with you in a special 
manner." Catharine was profoundly moved to thanks- 
giving and recommended herself with fervor to Mary 
Magdalen ; she humbly implored her to watch over her 
salvation, since the Son of God had entrusted her to her 
care. From that moment she enjoyed a tender devotion 
towards that Saint, aud alwaays called her Mother. There 
is, it appears to me, a signification in these relations with 
Mary Magdalen that we ought to observe. That Saint 
passed thirty-three years on a rock, without taking any 
nourishment and in continual comtemplation ; those 
years represent the life of our Lord upon earth ; Catha- 
rine, from that apparition, until her thirty-third year, (in 
which she died,) was so absorbed in divine contempla- 
tion, that she had no need of any aliment and lived by 
the graces that superabounded in her soul. Mary Mag- 
dalen, seven times a day was borne towards heaven by 
Angels, and beheld the secrets of God ; Catharine was 
continually ravished in celestial contemplation, in order 
to praise God and the Angels, and her body was often 
raised above the earth, in presence of a multitude of 
witncists. Hence she saw, as I will relate, admirable 



128 LIFE or ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

things while in those ecstacies, and she sometimes ex- 
pressed during them most sublime truths. 

I saw her one day ravished out of her senses, and I 
heard her speaking in an under-tone ; I approached her 
and heard her perfectly say in Latin '' Vidi arcana 
Dei,^^ ''I saw the secrets of God/' she added nothing 
to this phrase, but continually repeated, ^^I saw the 
secrets of God.'^ Long after, when she was restored to 
herself she still repeated the same words ; I wished to 
know why: ^^ Mother,^' said I, to her, ''why pray, do 
you constantly repeat the same words, and not ex- 
plain them to us by speaking to us as usual. ^^ '' It is im- 
possible for me^' said she ''to say anything else, or to 
say it otherwise. '' " But why ? you are accustomed to tell 
us what God has revealed to you, when we do not inter- 
rogate you, why do you decline answering, when we inquire 
of you. ' ' ' ' I should reproach myself ^' said she to me, ' ' in 
undertaking to express to you what I saw, as guilty of vain 
words : it seems to me that I should blaspheme God and 
dishonor him by my language. The distance is so broad 
between what my spirit contemplated, when ravished in 
God, and whatever I could describe to you, that I should 
think that I was falsifying, in speaking to you of them. 
I must therefore not attempt their description ; all that I 
can say is, that I saw ineffable things !'^ 

It was quite natural that Providence should unite 
Catharine and Mary Magdalen by the ties of mother and 
daughter, because they so resembled each other in their 
fasts, their love and in their contemplations, When 
Catharine spoke of this favor, she merely said, that a 
sinner had been given for daughter, to a saint that had 
formerly sinned, so that the mother, by remembering the 
fraility of nature, and God^s plentiful mercy, might com- 



EXTRAODRINARY REVELATIONS. 129 

passionate lier daughter's weakness and obtain her 
pardon. 

Brother Thomas, her first Confessor, in the notes that 
he left eoncerning this vision, relates that it seemed to 
her that h^r heart entered into our Lord's side, to be 
united and blended with his Heart. She felt her soul 
dissolved as it were, in the flames of his love, and cried 
out within herself: ^' My God! thou hast wounded my 
heart 1 My God I thou hast wounded my heart 1 " Friar 
Thomas says that this apparition took place in 1310, on 
the feast of St. Margaret — virgin and martyr. The same 
year, on the day following, St. Laurente, her Confessor, 
dreading that the priests who were celebrating Mass 
might be disturbed by her sighs and her sobs, recom- 
mended her to subdue and conceal them as much as pos- 
sible, when she would be near the altar. The obedient 
Catharine remained apart and besought God to make 
known to her Confessor, the difficulty of retaining these 
exterior marks of the love of God ; her Confessor declared 
that she was so perfectly heard, that he declined ever 
making her any similar recommendation again. I pre- 
sume that it was through humility, that he would not say 
any more, and that he learned by a happy experience, how 
impossible it is to suppress within one's self such trans- 
ports. Catharine, thus remote from the altar, experienced 
a burning desire for receiving the holy Communion ; her 
heart cried loudly and her lips softly : ^' Ah ! would that 
I could receive the body of our Lord Jesus Christ ! " 
The Saviour to satisfy her desire appeared to her, and 
approaching, suffered her to apply her mouth to the 
wound of his sacred side, permitting her to content her 
desire for his sacred body and blood. Catharine eagerly 
sought the blessed source and drew long-drawn draughts. 



130 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

The sweets which then filled her soul w^ere so excessive, 
that she believed she would really suffer death from their 
exquisiteness, and when her Confessor asked her to describe 
w^hat she experienced, she replied to him that it would be 
impossible for her to give him to understand it 

There also happened to her a circumstance quite won- 
derful, in the same year, on the feast of Saint Alexis : 
whilst she was in prayer, the night preceding the festival, 
and sighed interiorly to receive holy Communion, it was 
revealed to her that she should receive on the morrow. 
She was often deprived of this favor, through the neglect 
or fault of the Brethren and Sisters who at that time 
directed the Congregation. As soon as she had received 
this promise, she suplicated our Lord to condescend to 
purify her soul, so as to render it more worthy of so great 
a Sacrament. 

Immediately, she felt descending on her soul, as it were, 
a rain of blood mingled with fire, and this rain washed 
her soul so completely that it penetrated to her very body, 
and banished not only the stains but even the first princi- 
ples of evil. When daylight dawned, the sickness which 
she was enduring at that moment was so aggravated, that 
it appeared unreasonable to think of taking a single step. 
But Catharine aware of what had been promised her, put 
her trust in God, arose and directed her steps towards the 
Church, to the great astonishment of every one. 

When she arrived there and had taken a place in a 
chapel beside the Altar, she remembered that her Supe- 
riors had not allowed her to receive the Communion indis- 
criminately, from the hands of all those who might 
celebrate Mass : she therefore desired that her Confessor 
might come to say his Mass at the Altar where she was 
praying. God showed her how much he took pleasure 



EXTRAORDINARY REVELATIONS. 181 

in satisfying her desires. Her Confessor, in his notes 
which he left, says, that he did not intend celebrating 
Mass on that day, and that he was quite ignorant of her 
arrival ; but grace suddenly touched his heart and gave 
him such an attraction for the holy Mysteries, that he 
yielded without delay, and went precisely to the altar at 
which Catharine awaited him, although it was not the one 
that he habitually used. There he found his spiritual 
daughter who asked him for the holy Communion, and 
he comprehended that he was the instrument of Provi- 
dence ; he therefore celebrated the Mass and gave Cath- 
arine the holy Communion. When she advanced towards 
the altar, her face was red, shining, and bathed in tears 
and perspiration ; she received the Holy Communion with 
a devotion that deeply moved her Confessor, and filled 
him with admiration. Then she remained totally absorbed 
in God, lost in the inebriation of his heavenly communi- 
cations, and during that day, even after having recovered 
the use of her senses, she remained incapable of ut- 
terance. 

On the morrow, her Confessor asked her what had hap- 
pened to her at the moment of receiving holy Communion, 
when her countenance was so red. '' Father, '' said she 
to him, *' I know not of what color I was, but I assure 
you that at the instant in which I partook of the Holy 
Eucharist, my senses discerned nothing corporal or 
colored ; but my soul contemplated a beauty, relished a 
sweetness that no expression can render. What I beheld 
so attracted me, that things of earth seemed to me but 
emptiness and dust ; and this, not only of wealth and 
sensual pleasures, but also of the enjoyments of the mind 
and heart. I implored God to deprive me of them com- 
pletely, so that I might only please him and possess him. 



132 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

I entreated him to take away my will and give me His^ 
and he in mercy heard my prayers ; for thus he 
answered me: ^Dearest daughter, I give thee my will, 
and this shall be the proof of it, that no exterior event 
can trouble thee or change thee."' This promise God 
fulfilled ; all who were acquainted with her can testify to 
it, from that moment Catharine was satisfied in every 
circumstance and occurrence, and no event however con- 
tradictory ever disturbed her. 

Catharine said to her Confessor, on this occasion : 
'^ Father, do you know what our Lord did to-day in my 
soul ? He acted as a tender mother towards her much- 
loved babe ; she extends her arms from a little distance so 
as to excite a desire, and when her son has wept a few 
instants, she smiles, siezes him, clasps him closely to her 
heart, and then satisfies his craving thirst. Our blessed 
Lord did the same with me ; he showed me in the dis- 
tance the wound of his side ; the desire that I felt to 
cement my lips to it excited me to burning tears ; he 
laughed during some moments of my grief; then he 
hastened to me, and took my soul in his arms, and placed 
my mouth upon his sacred wound, and then my soul was 
able to satisfy its desires, to hide itself in his sacred 
breast, and there find heavenly consolations. Oh I did 
you but know, you would be amazed that my heart is not 
consumed with love, and that I yet live after experiencing 
those holy ardors I '' 

In the same year, on the eighteenth of the month of 
August, God manifested his power again, in Catharine. 
She communicated in the morning, and, at the moment 
in which the Priest, holding the sacred Host, invited her 
to say: ''Lord, I am not worthy thou shouldst enter'' 
into my heart, etc., she heard a voice answering : ''And 



EXTRAORDINARY REVELATIONS. 133 

I, I am worthy of entering into thee.^' When she re- 
ceived the Communion, it seemed to her, that, as the fish 
which is in the water is penetrated by the water, her soal 
was in God, and God in her soul. She was so absorbed 
in her Creator, that she could scarcely return to her cell ; 
she laid down on the planks that served as her bed, and 
remained there a long time motionless ; then her body 
was raised in the air, and remained there without any 
sort of support. Three persons, whose names I will give, 
were witnesses of that prodigy and have affirmed it. At 
length her body lowered to the bed, and she began to say 
in a low voice such sweet and admirable things, that her 
companions, on hearing them, could not restrain their 
tears. She afterwards prayed for several persons, — she 
named some of them, her Confessor among others, who 
was then in the Church of the Friar Preachers, and who 
was not thinking of anything capable of exciting him to 
a particular fervor. He wrote, himself, that he was at 
the moment in nowise disposed to experience sensible de- 
votion. But suddenly while she was praying, (it being 
unknown to him,) a wonderful change was effected in his 
soul ; he became wrapt in an extraordinary fervor such 
as he had never experienced, and he examined his own 
dispositions to learn whence came this grace. Amid 
these reflections, one of Catharine's companions came, by 
chance, to speak to him, and she said to him : *' Father, 
at such an hour Catharine prayed most fervently for 
you,'*^ Then the Confessor understood why, at that very 
hour, he had experienced such a special devotion. He 
then questioned the person more particularly, and was 
informed by her, that, in the prayer for him and others, 
Catharine had asked of God the promise of their eternal 
salvation. She had stretched forth her hands saying : 

12 



134 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

*' Promise me that you will grant if And whilst her 
hand was extended, she appeared to feel a sharp pain 
which obliged her to exclaim, with a sigh : Praise be to 
our Lord Jesus Christ ! She was accustomed to this 
aspiration in her most poignant sufferings. Then her 
Confessor went to see her, and required her to narrate the 
whole vision. She was obliged to obey, and after telling 
what we have related above, she added : ^* When I im- 
plored your eternal salvation with earnestness, God 
promised it to me, but I desired to retain a testimony of 
it, and I said to him : ' Lord, grant me a token of what 
thou wilt do,' and he replied : ' Reach hither thy hand. ' 
I extended my hand ; he took a nail, and putting the 
point in the middle of my hand, he pressed on it 
with such power, that it seemed to me that my hand was 
transpierced ; I felt just such a pain, as it seems to me, 
would be felt, if a nail had been driven with a hammer. 
Hence, thank God, I now have his holy stigma in my 
right hand ; no one sees it, but I feel it very sensibly and 
suffer from it continually," 

In continuation of the same subject, I will here relate 
what occurred a long time after, at Pisa, and in my 
presence. When she came to this place I, with certain 
other persons, accompanied her. She received hospital- 
ity at the house of an inhabitant, near the the little 
Church of St. Christina. On Sunday I celebrated Mass 
there, and gave her the holy Communion. She remained 
afterwards a long time in ecstacy, according to her cus- 
tom ; her soul which sighed after her Creator, separated 
itself, as much as it could, from the body. We waited 
until she had resumed her senses, in order to receive some 
spiritual consolations, when on a sudden we saw her 
body that was prostrate on the ground, rise a little, kneel, 



EXTRAORDINARY RE VENATIONS 135 

and extend its hands and arms. Her countenance was 
inflamed ; she remained a long time motionless and with 
her eyes closed. Then, as though she had received a 
deathly wound, we saw her suddenly fall, and resume a 
few moments after the use of her senses. She sent for 
me and said to me in a low tone : '' Father, I announce 
to you that, by the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, I 
bear his sacred stigmata in my body." I answered her, 
that I suspected after what passed in her ecstacy, and I 
asked what our Lord did to her. *'I saw,'' said she, 
''my crucified Saviour who descended upon me with a 
great light ; the effort of my soul to go forth to meet its 
Creator, forced my body to arise. 

* * Then from the five openings of the sacred wounds of our 
Lord, I saw directed upon me bloody rays which struck 
my hands, my feet and my heart. I understood the mys- 
tery, and cried out : Ah I Lord my God, I entreat thee, 
that these cicatrixes may not appear exteriorly on my 
body. Whilst I was speaking, the bleeding beams be- 
came brilliant, and reached in the form of light, these 
five places on my person, my hands, my feet and my 
heart." Then I said to her, did no beam of light reach 
your right side ? She replied to me : "No, on the left 
side and directly above the heart. The luminous line 
that emanated from the right side, did not strike me 
obliquely but directly." "Do you feel," said I, " a sharp 
pain in each of those places ? ' she then answered me, 
heaving a deep sigh : *'I feel at these five places, and es- 
pecially in my heart,' a pain so violent, that without a new 
miracle, it appears to me impossible to live in this state." 

These words filled me with grief, and I 'examined 
whether I could observe any signs of her grievous suf- 
ferings. When she had finished what she had confided 



136 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

to me, we went out of the chapel, in order to repair to 
the house where she resided. Scarcely had we arrived 
than she retired into her apartment, and fell unconscious. 
We collected around her, and seeing her in this state we 
all wept, and feared losing her, whom we loved in the 
Lord. We had frequently witnessed her in ecstacies 
which deprived her of the use of the senses, and which 
weighed down her body, under thanksgiving, but we had 
never seen her in such a profound suspension of the vital 
powers. A little after, she came to herself and repeated 
to me that she was certain, that if God did not come to 
her aid, she would soon die. I immediately assembled 
her spiritual children and I conjured them with tears, to 
ask with united prayers that God would spare us yet a 
while our beloved Mother and mistress, and not leave us 
orphans amid the tempests of the world, before we were 
strengthened in virtue. All promised with generous 
hearts, and went to her dissolved in tears and said : ' ' 
Mother we know that you languish for the presence of 
your Spouse ; but your recompense is secured. Rather 
take compassion on us ; we are yet too weak to be aban- 
doned to the fury of waves. We know that your beloved 
Spouse refuses nothing to the ardor of your prayers and 
we entreat you to ask him not to deprive us of your pre- 
sence yet, because we may be lost if you cease to conduct 
us. We ask it ourselves with all our strength ; but alas ! 
we feel that we are unworthy to be heard ; you so ardent- 
ly desire our salvation, obtain for us what we cannot 
obtain.'' She replied to our tears and lamentations: 
^'It is long since I have renounced my own will, and I 
have no wish for myself nor for others except what God 
wills. I desire your salvation with my whole soul, but 
I know that He who is the salvation of all, can secure it 



EXTRAORDINARY REVELATIONS. 137 

better than any creature whatsoever ; therefore let his 
will be accomplished in all things. However I will 
clieerfully ask that he will do what is for the best.'^ On 
hearing these words we remained in the deepest afflic- 
tion — but Almighty God despised not our tears. On the 
following Saturday Catharine sent for me, and said : ** It 
appears to me that the Lord is disposed to grant your 
petition, and I trust that you will soon be satisfied.'' 
All happened as she had said. On the following day, 
Sunday, after having received holy Communion she fell 
into an ecstacy, as on the preceding Sunday ; but her 
body, instead of appearing reduced under the divine 
action seemed on the contrary to resume its vigor. Her 
companions were astonished at not seeing her suffer as 
imch as in her other ecstacies ; she appeared rather to 
revive and renovate her strength by a natural slumber. 
I told them, that I hoped according to the promises she 
had made to me yesterday, our tears which had implored 
God for her recovery, had gone up favorably before God. 
She was hastening to join her Spouse but it was necessary 
to retrace her steps, in order to assist us in our misery. In 
effect, when she resumed her consciousness, she appeared 
so strong that no one doubted that she had been heard. 
Father of mercies 1 what wilt thou not do for thy 
faithful servants and thy beloved children, if thop dost 
compassionate with so much bounty those who have 
offended thee I So as to be more certain of what had 
transpired, I said to her : Mother, do you continue to 
suffer the same anguish in the wound that you received ? 
She answered — ''The Lord has granted your prayers, to 
the great regret of my soul. Not only my wounds do 
not cause my body to suffer, they sustain and fortify it, I 
feel that what formerly weakened me, now relieves me." 

12* 



138 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

I have recounted these details to collect them with other 
celestial favors received bj this holy soul, aud I add that 
it must be remarked that sinners who pray for their sal- 
vation, are heard by Him who wills in his love, the 
salvation of the whole world. 

Were I to recount all Catharine's ecstacies, time rather 
than materials would fail me. I therefore hastened to 
arrive at a circumstance which surpasses all the others, 
and which will terminate this chapter. I found four 
written books of Friar Thomas her Confessor, entirely 
filled with her admirable visions and revelations the most 
sublime. Sometimes our Lord introduced her soul into 
the wound of his side, and initiated her into the mysteries 
of the adorable Trinity : sometimes his glorious Mother 
imparted refreshing beverage to her from her virginial 
breast, and filled her with unspeakable delight ; and again 
Mary Magdalen came to converse familiarly with her, and 
related to her the divine communications which she re- 
ceived seven times a day in the desert. Sometimes the 
three came together to pay her a friendly visit, and in- 
fused into her soul ineffable consolations. Other saints 
did not neglect her, particularly Saint Paul, whose name 
she never heard pronounced without evidencing a visible 
delight. St. John Evangelist, sometimes St. Dominic, 
frequently St. Thomas Aquinas and still oftener the blessed 
Agnes of Monte Pukiano, whose life I wrote twenty- 
five years ago. It had been revealed to her that she 
would be her companion in Paradise, as we shall see in 
the sequel. But before giving my promised narration, 
I ought not, for the utility of my readers, pass in silence, 
a circumstance relative to St. Paul. Catharine had an 
ecstacy on the day of that Saint's conversion, and her 
spirit was so absorbed in the contemplation of heavenly 



EXTRAORDINARY REVELATIONS. 139 

things, that during three days and three nights her body 
remained insensible ; several persons present thought 
that she was dead, or at the point of death. Others 
better informed, believed that she was ravished with 
the Apostle to the third heaven. When the eestacy had 
terminated, her mind remained so filled with the remem- 
brance of what she had seen that she returned with diffi- 
culty to things of earth, and remained in a kind of slum- 
ber or ebriety from which she could not be aroused. In 
the mean while, Friar Thomas, her Confessor, and Friar 
Donato of Florence, determined to pay a visit to a ven- 
erable monk of the Order of Hermits, who resided in the 
country. They first came to see Catharine, whom they 
found in her holy somnolence and all inebriated with the 
spirit of God. To try to awaken her, they said *'We 
are going to visit the Hermit, who lives out in the coun- 
try — will you come with us?^^ Catharine, who liked 
such pilgrimages, answered yeSy in the midst of her 
drowsiness. But scarcely had she uttered this word, than 
she began to repent of it, as of a falsehood. The grief 
that she suffered, restored her completely to her senses, 
and she mourned this fault as many days and nights as 
she had been in eestacy. *' the most wicked and guilty 
of woman," said she to herself *^is it thus thou dost 
recognize the graces that God's infinite bounty has just 
granted thee ; is it thus thou dost profit by the verities 
that thou hast learned from heaven ! Have the sublime 
instructions of the Holy Ghost only taught thee to lie, 
when returning to earth. Thou knowest full well, that 
thou hadst no intention of acccompanying those Reli- 
gious, and thou didst answer them, ' yes, ' Thou hast told 
a falsehood to thy Confessor and to the fathers of thy soul ; 
what a grevious and aggravated fault ! '^ She remained 



140 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

without drinking or eating as long as her ecstacy had 
endured 

Let the Reader here remark how ^' admirable are the 
ways of God, and how worthy to be praised.'' That the 
sublimity of her revelations might not swell her with pride, 
God permitted Catharine to fall into this deceit, if we 
may coll falsehood, a word without intention of deceiv- 
ing and without attaching any importance to it ; this 
humiliation served to induce her to be more vigilant over 
the treasure entrusted to her, and her body which had 
been so to speak, oppressed by the elevation of the mind, 
is renovated in a manner by its abasement. Although the 
joy of the soul is sensible to the body, on account of their 
intimate union, still the ravishment to the third heaven, 
that is to say, to the intellectual vision, so deprives the 
body of its particular life, that a new miracle is necessary 
to preserve it from death. It is certain that the act of 
the understanding does not require the mediation of the 
body, except to represent to itself the immaterial object ; 
but if this object presents itself supernaturally to the mind, 
by the omnipotent effect of grace, the understanding finds 
the plenitude of its perfection in Christ and endeavors 
to unite itself to him, by abandoning the body. Some- 
times the Dispenser of all good elevates the intelligence 
that he created, by showing to it his light ; sometimes he 
humbles it by permitting some fall, in order to exhibit to 
it at once the divine perfection and its own weakness. 
He thus sustains it in a happy mean, which saves it and 
conducts it through the storms of this world to the port 
of a blessed Eternity, * 'for virtue is perfected in weakness. ' ' 
(I Cor. xvi. 9.) and also, Ne magnitudo revelationum 
extoUat me datus est milii stimulus carnis mece. (I Cor. 
xvi. 7. ) To return to our subject, Catharine did not dis- 



EXTRAORDINARY REVELATIONS. 141 

close to any one, not even to her Confessor as was usual 
with her, what she beheld in this ecstacy, because as she 
afterwards told me, she could find no expression for ren- 
dering things, which according to St. Paul, it is not 
permitted to man to recount : but the ardor of her heart, 
the continuity of her prayer, the efficacy of her teaching, 
proved sufficiently that she had seen heavenly secrets 
which none can understand without witnessing thera. 

At the same time, she told her Confessor, who trans- 
ferred her relation to writing, that St. Paul, the Apostle, 
had appeared to her and warned her to apply continu- 
ally to meditation. She obeyed with earnestness. On 
the vigil of the Feast of St. Dominic, while she was 
praying in the church she received great revelations con- 
cerning St. Dominic and several saints of his Order. 
These revelations or visions were so vivid, that she often 
thought that she still saw them when she was describing 
them to her Confessor ; this was a proof that God wished 
her to make them known for the benefit of the faithful. 
On that day, therefore, a little before Vespers, whilst she 
was receiving these revelations. Friar Bartholomew of 
St. Dominic, of Sienna, happened to enter the church. 
He is now a doctor in theology ; he was then the friend 
of Catharine's Confessor, who placed great confidence in 
him also, and took him for her Confessor when her own 
was absent. She was aware of his arrival more by an 
effect of her mind than of her exterior senses ; she arose 
directly, and went and informed him that she had some- 
thing to communicate to him. When they had gone 
aside in the church, she related what God had shown her 
concerning St. Dominic. ^' At this moment,'' said she 
to him, ** I see St. Dominic more distinctly and perfectly 
than I see you. He is more intimately present to me." 



142 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

But as she was conversing on the subject, Aer brother, 
whose name also was Bartholomew, passed by: his sha- 
dow or the noise he made in passing by, attracted during 
an instant, Catharine's attention, who scarcely turned 
her eyes, but yet sufficiently to recognize him ; she after- 
wards resumed her position, but suddenly her moans and 
tears prevented her from speaking. 

The Religious waited some time before engaging her 
to continue what she had commenced ; but her sobs ren- 
dered it impossible for her to continue. At length, after 
a tedious interval, she began to utter these interrupted 
phrases: *'Alas, wretch that I am, who will take ven- 
geance on me for my iniquities ? who will punish me for 
such an enormous fault ?^' And as the Religious 
inquired what sin she had committed: *' Did you not 
see,'^ said she, *'that at the very moment in which God 
was showing me his wonders, I turned my head and eves 
to look at a person passing by ?" ''But, '^ said the Re- 
ligious, *' you looked so short a time that I did not even 
perceive if ''If you knew,'' replied she, "the re- 
proaches that the Blessed Yirgin made to me, you would 
assist me to weep for my fault 1" She immediately ceased 
speaking of her vision, wept until she had confessed, and 
then retired to her cell, still weeping. 

St. Paul appeared to her, according to what she told 
her Confessor, and rebuked her severely for the time she 
had lost in turning her head. She afterwards declared 
that she preferred confusion before the whole world, 
rather than experiencing the shame excited by the re- 
proach of the blessed Apostle. She said to her Confess- 
or : " Imagine what it will be to bear the reproaches of 
Jesus Christ at the last judgment, if the reproach of his 
Apostle occasioned me so much shame." She added 



EXTRAORDINARY REVELATIONS. 143 

that she would have died of shame, if, during the time 
that the Apostle was reproving her, she had not continu- 
ally seen a Lamb, all radiant with a sweet mild light. 
This imperfection which God permitted, was also a 
means of rendering her more humble and more prudent 
in preserving the graces that she had received. I have 
cited these two facts before concluding this chapter, be- 
cause I think they are very capable of teaching humility, 
Doth to the perfect and to the imperfect. 

St. Dominic called me to enter his Order in a miracu- 
lous manner. I acknowledge that I was not worthy of 
it ; but I should be an ungrateful son, did I pass in 
silence the glory of my blessed Father, and hence I intend 
relating the revelation that Catharine had concerning him. 
Friar Bartholomew, of whom I have just spoken, and 
who is at present with me, related it to me exactly as she 
had related it to me on that very day. 

Catharine asserted that she saw the Eternal Father 
producing from his mouth, his co-eternal Son, such as he 
was, when he clothed himself with human nature ; and 
whilst she was contemplating him, she saw the blessed 
Patriarch St. Dominic come forth from the breast of the 
Father, all glittering with brightness, and she heard a 
voice which said : *^ Beloved Daughter, I have begotten 
these two Sons : one by nature, the other by a sweet and 
tender adoption. '' As Catharine was amazed at a com- 
parison so elevated, which rendered equal so to speak, a 
saint with Jesus Christ — he who uttered these surprising 
words, explained them himself: '* My Son engendered by 
nature from all eternity, when he assumed human nature, 
obeyed me in all things perfectly ^ until his death. Domi- 
nic, my son by adoption, from his birth until the last 
moment of his life, followed my will in all things. He 



144 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

never transgressed one of my commandments, never viola- 
ted the virginity of either soul or body, and always 
preserved the grace of Baptism which regenerated him. 
My Son by nature, who is the eternal Word from my 
mouth, preached publicly to the world whatever I charged 
him to say, and he rendered testimony to the Truth as he 
himself declared to Pilate. My adopted Son Dominic 
also preached to the world the verity of my words ; he 
spoke to heretics and to Catholics, not only personally 
but by others. His preaching continued in his succes- 
sors, he still preaches and will always preach. My Son 
by nature sent his disciples, my son by adoption sent his 
religious ; my Son by nature is my Word, my son by 
adoption is the herald, the minister of my Word. There- 
fore I have given a quite particular intelligence of my 
words to him and to his religious with fidelity to follow 
them. My Son by nature did all things in order to pro- 
mote by his teaching and his example the salvation of 
souls. Dominic my son by adoption, used all his 
endeavors to draw souls from vice and error. The sal- 
vation of the neighbor was his principle thought in the 
establishment and development of his Order. Hence I 
have compared him to my Son by nature, whose life he 
imitated, and thou seest that even his body resembles the 
sacred Body of my divine Son. '' It was while Catharine re- 
lated this vision to friar Bartholomew that the circumstance 
above related transpired. Let ns now pass to the vision 
which must terminate this chapter. 

Abundance of graces and revelations so filled the soul 
of Catharine, at this epoch, that the excess of her love 
threw her into a state of real languor. This languor 
augmented so that she could not rise from her bed ; and 
her illness was ardor for her holy Spouse, whom she con- 



EXTRAORDINARY REVELATIONS. 145 

tinually called, as if beside herself: Sweetest, most 
amiable youth, Son of God and she sometimes added : 
And of the blessed Virgin Mary. These words were the 
flowery couch of her love, and on it she reposed without 
sleep and without food. But the Spouse who had excited 
in her soul this enthusiasm, so as to influence her more 
and more, visited her incessantly. Catharine all vehe- 
ment with sacred desires said to him ; '* Oh ! why, my be- 
loved Master does this miserable body deprive me of thy 
heavenly embrace ? Alas ! in this melacholly life naught 
can afford me pleasure. I seek but thee ; for if I indeed 
love any thing, it is simply on thy account. I implore thee, 
let this miserable body no longer prove an obstacle to my 
happiness. Oh ! the bests of Masters draw my soul from 
this prison and deliver me from this body of death !^' The 
Lord thus answered these words that were interrupted with 
sobs : ''Beloved daughter, when I dwelt among men, I 
accomplished not my will but my Father's ; my disciples 
have rendered testimony of this ; I desired greatly to eat 
with them the last Supper, and yet I w^aited with patience 
the moment fixed by my Father. Therefore notwithstand- 
ing the ardent desire that you have to be entirely united 
to me, you must wait my hour with resignation.'^ And 
Catharine replied : " Since thou wilt not consent, thy 
holy will be done. But yet, deign I conjure thee to hear 
a simple prayer : whatever be the duration thou shalt fix 
to my existence, grant me to participate in all the suffer- 
ings that thou hast endured until death. If I cannot be 
wdth thee now in Heaven, let me be united to thee at 
least in thy Passion on earth.'' 

God accepted her prayer, and what she had asked was 
liberally granted to her ; for she began, as she acknow- 
ledged to me, to suffer more and more in her soul and in 

13 



146 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

her body, all the dolors that Our Lord had experienced 
during his life ; and, that it may be better understood, I 
will relate what she told us on the subject. Sbe fre- 
quently conversed with me on the sufferings of our Lord, 
and assured me that from the moment of his conception, he 
had always borne the Cross in his soul, on account of 
the desire that he felt for the salvation of souls. He 
must have suffered cruelly until he had established, by 
his Passion, the honor of God and the happiness of the 
neighbor — and this torment of desire, is very great, those 
who have experienced it, know that it is the heaviest of 
crosses. 

She also gave on the words of our Lord in the garden 
of Olives, an explanation that I do no remember to have 
read in any author. She said that by the words : ' ' Foiher, 
lei this chalice pa88 from 7ne,'' (Matt. xxvi. 39.) 
persons enlightened and fortified by grace ought not to 
believe, like feeble souls who fear death, that the Saviour 
implored to be spared his Passion : he had drunk from 
his birth, and according as the hour approached he 
drank more deeply that chalice of desire which animated 
him for the salvation of men. He rather implored the 
accomplishment of what he so ardently wished, the fill- 
ing up of that Cup whose bitterness he had so long 
tasted. He was far from dreading his Passion and 
death, he on the contrary wished to advance the moment; 
he expressed this clearly when he said to Judas : Quod 
facis, fac citius ** lohat thou cloest, do quickly. ^^ (St. 
John xiii.27.) But although that chalice of desire was 
the most painful to drink, he added in his filial obedience ; 
'' Nevertheless not my will but thine be done. '' Verum- 
iamen non mea voluntas, sed tua fiat. He thus offered 
to suffer all the delays that it svould please God to require 
in his Passion. 



EXTIIAUKDINAKY RE VENATIONS l4t 

I observed to her that ordinarily the Doctors exphiiiied 
this passage otherwise, and that according to them, the 
Saviour pronounced these words, as man, because he 
feared death naturally ; and as chief of the elect, of 
those who are feeble as well as those who are strong ; so 
as not to discourage the weak who dread death and pre- 
sent to all a salutary example. Catharine responded : 
** The actions of the Redeemer are so fruitful in instruc- 
tion that by carefully meditating on them, each one finds 
the nourishment best suited to his souPs salvation. The 
weak can find consolation in our Saviour ^s prayer ; but 
the strong and more nearly perfect soul should derive 
encouragement from it, and this would be impossible 
without the explanation that I have given you. It is 
more profitable to present several meanings, so that each 
individual may adopt the one most appropriate to the souPs 
necessities. '^ I kept silent, and simply admired the 
grace and wisdom she had received from God. 

I found also another explanation of these words in the 
manuscripts that Brother Thomas, Catharine's first Con- 
fessor, left concerning her. She said during one of her 
ecstacies, that the cause of our Saviour's sadness and 
bloody sweat in the Garden of Olives, was the foresight of 
so many souls failing of participation in the fruits of his 
Passion. But as he loved justice, he added: ^^ Not my 
will hut thine,'' ^ Without that, said she, all men would 
have been saved, for it is impossible that the will of the 
Son of God should remain ineffectual. Which agrees 
perfectly with what the Apostle said to the Hebrews : 
Exauditus est pi^o sua reverentia^ (Heb. v. '7.) The 
Doctors commonly apply this passage to the prayer in the 
Garden of Olives 

She also told me on this subject that the dolors suf- 



148 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

fered by the Son of God, in his body, were so great, that 
they were sufficient to produce death a thousand times in 
any one who would have endured them. The Saviour's 
love being infinite, the dolors that his love induced him 
to bear were also infinite and greatly surpassed all those 
that man's nature and malice could have caused him. 
The thorns of the mock crown pierced his head to the 
very brain, all his members were disjointed. (Ps. xxi. 
18.) And still so great was his love, that he not only 
supported these dolors, but he procured himself still more 
terrible ones, in order to manifest himself to us more per- 
fectly. Yes, this was one of the principal motives of his 
Passion : he desired to exhibit to us the immensity of his 
love, and he could not prove it more effectual. Love and 
not nails fastened him to the Cross ; love and not men 
triumphed. How could they have been masters, since 
with one single word, he could have thrown them to the 
earth. 

Catharine gave admirable explanations concerning the 
Passion of the Kedeemer : she said that she had under- 
gone in her body a portion of his sufferings, but it would 
be impossible to endure them completely. The greatest 
torment that Jesus Christ suffered on the Cross, was, she 
thought, the dislocation of the bones of the breast. She 
believed this, because the other tortures which she suffered 
in imitation of the Saviour, were transient, that alone was 
permanent ; the pains in the side and head which she 
daily suffered were considerable, but those in the breast 
far surpassed them ; and I easily believe it, both in refer- 
ence to her and to our Lord, on account of the vicinity 
of the heart. The bones which are disposed in that por- 
tion of the human frame, for protecting the heart and 
lungs, cannot be displaced without gravely wounding the 



EXTRAORDINARY REVELATIONS. 149 

precious organs that they contain, and without a miracle 
this displacing must necessarily produce death. Catharine 
endured this torture during several days ; her corporeal 
energies became enfeebled, but the ardor of her love only 
increased. She experienced in a sensible manner, how 
deeply the Saviour had loved her, and had loved all man- 
kind, by undergoing such a dolorous Passion, and this 
produced such a vehement love, that the heart of Cath- 
arine was separated or literally broken and the links that 
bound it to life were supernatually destroyed. 

The reader of these pages may perhaps doubt that such 
a death really took place, but let him know that it occurred 
in presence of several witnesses who have affirmed it. I 
also doubted : I went to Catharine in order to examine 
what she had experienced, and I requested her to mani- 
fest the whole truth. She then broke forth into sobs 
and moans, and after having obliged me to wait for her 
answer a considerable time, she at last said: '* Father, 
would you not pity a soul that had been delivered from an 
obscure prison, and then plunged anew into darkness, 
after having enjoyed an extraordinary light ? This mis- 
fortune happened to me ; divine Providence willed it on 
account of my faults. '^ 

These circumstances increased my desire of learning 
these details from her, and I added : '* Mother, then your 
soul has been really separated from your body V^ * * Yes, ' ' 
said she to me, *' the ardor of divine love was so vehe- 
ment, the desire that I felt of being united to my Be- 
loved was so forcible, that no heart, had it been com- 
posed of stone or of iron, could possibly have resisted, 
nothing created is sufficiently powerful to counteract such 
a force. Yes, be sure of it, the heart that beats in this 
poor frame was sundered by charity. I feel the place 

13* 



150 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

where it is divided. In consequence, my soul actually 
quitted my body, and I saw secrets of God, that I am 
incapable of telling on earth, because memory is too feeble, 
and language too poor for adequately rendering such no- 
ble themes. It would be presenting clay for gold. Only 
when I hear this state spoken of, I instantly feel a pro- 
found sorrow, on seeing, that I could descend from those 
heights to relapse again into the miseries of the world 
and I have only tears and sobs to express the keenness of 
my anguish. '' 

Desiring to have a more complete knowledge of all that 
transpired, I said, ^ ' Mother, since you cheerfully confide 
to me your other secrets, I entreat you not to hide this, 
and to give me a full description of this wonderful event. 
I have been favored," said she ''with many spiritual and 
corporeal visions : I had received ineffable consolations 
from our Lord, and the violence of pure love, had so 
weakened me physically, that I was obliged to keep my 
bed. There I prayed incessantly and supplicated God to 
deliver me from this body of death, in order to unite me 
more intimately to him. I did not obtain this grace, but 
it was granted me to be united, as far as I could be, to 
the dolors of his Passion.'' And she told me what I 
have given above concerning our Lord's sufferings ; then 
she added : " This share of pain that he condescended to 
impart to me, made known more distinctly and perfectly 
to me, my Creator's love ; and mine augmented so, that 
I fell into a state of languor and my soul knew no other 
desire but that of quittiug the body. How shall I des- 
cribe it to you ? my Saviour daily animated more and 
more the fire which he had enkindled ; my heart of flesh 
yielded, and love became strong as death. Yes my heart 



EXTRAORDINARY REVELATIONS. 151 

broke, my captive soul was freed from its bonds ; but ah 
me ! for only too short a space of time.'' 

* 'Mother," I rejoined, '^how long did your soul re- 
main separated from your body?' She answered me: 
'* Persons who witnessed my death, say that I remained 
four hours without returning to life. A great many per- 
sons came to offer consolations to Mother and my family, 
but my soul had entered into eternity and indulged no 
thoughts of time. " 

I said : *' What did you see, mother, during that time, 
and why did your soul return into the body. I beseech 
you do not conceal aught of this from me." She 
answered ; *' Know, father, that my soul entered into an 
unknown world, and beheld the glory of the just and the 
chastisement of sinners. But here also memory fails, and 
the poverty of language prohibits a full description of 
these things. I tell you however what I can ; be assured 
therefore, that I saw the divine Essence, and for this I 
suffer so much in remaining enchained in this body. Were 
I not retained for the love of God and love of the neigh- 
bor, I should die of grief My great consolation is to 
suffer J because I am aware that by suffering, I shall 
obtain a more perfect view of God. Hence tribulations, 
far from being painful to my soul, are on the contrary its 
delight. I saw the torments of Hell and those of Pur- 
gatory ; no words can describe them. Had poor mor- 
tals the faintest idea of them, they would suffer a thousand 
deaths rather than undergo the least of their torments 
during a single day. I saw in particular those punished 
who sin in the married state, by not observing the laws it 
imposes, and seeking in it naught but sensual pleasures. " 
And as I inquired why this sin, which was not worse than 
others, still received so rude a chastisement, she told me : 



152 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

''Because little attention is given to it, and consequently 
less contrition is excited for it, and it is more easily 
committed.'' And then she added: ''Nothing is more 
dangerous than a fault, however small it may be, when 
he who commits it does not carefully purify his soul by 
penance." 

Catharine afterwards continued what she had commen- 
ced : '' Whilst my soul contemplated these things, its 
celestial Spouse, whom it believed it possessed forever, 
said : ' Thou seest what glory they lose and torments they 
suffer who offend me. Return therefore to life and show 
them how they have strayed and what appalling danger 
menaces them.'' And as my soul was horrified at the 
idea of returning to life, the Lord added : "The salva- 
tion of many souls demand it ; thou shalt no longer live 
as thou hast done, henceforth thou must renounce thy cell 
and continually pass through the city, in order to save 
souls. I will always attend thee, I will conduct thee and 
re-conduct thee, I will confide to thee the honor of my 
Holy Name, and thou shalt teach my doctrine to the 
lowly and the great, to laymen, priests and monks, I will 
impart to thee speech and wisdom which none can resist, 
I will place thee in the presence of Pontiffs, and the 
Rulers both of the church and of the people, so as to con- 
found, in my way, and by this means the arrogance of the 
mighty. ' Whilst God thus addressed my soul, I sud- 
denly found myself, without the capacity of explaining 
how, re-united to my body. Then I was so overcome 
with keen sorrow, that I shed copious and burning tears 
during three days and three nights : and when my mind 
dwells upon it, I cannot refrain from weeping, and father, 
it is not astonishing ; what is much more so, is, that my 
heart is not crushed anew on recalling that glory which I 



EXTRAORDINARY REVELATIONS. 153 

then possessed and of which I am now deprived. The 
salvation of the neighbor is the cause of it ; if I love so 
ardently the souls whose conversion God has confided to 
me, it is because they have cost me dear ; they have 
separated me from my God, and deprived me of the en- 
joyment of his glory during a period to me unknown. 
But they will prove * my glory and my crown and my 
immortal joy.' (Phil. iv. 1.) I tell you these things, 
father, so as to console you for the anxiety caused you by 
those who murmur at the confidence I repose in you.'' 

After God had bestowed on me the favor of hearing 
these things, I asked myself whether it was my duty to 
publish them at a time in which self-love renders men so 
blind and so incredulous. My Brethren and Sisters did 
not approve of my disclosing them during Catharine's 
life-time, and I remarked that several of those who at 
first followed her, when this circumstance, which they 
could not comprehend, was related to them went away. 
But now that she has gone to the home of the blessed, I 
thought myself obliged to speak ; and I have revealed 
the whole, so that so great miracle be not concealed 
through my fault. The following particulars give all 
possible authenticity to this event : at the approach of 
Catharine's death, the women who were with her and 
who were her daughters in the Lord, sent for Friar 
Thomas, her confessor, to assist her in her agony : he 
hastened there without a moments delay, with another 
Religious Friar Thomas Antonio, and began with tears 
to recite the customary prayers ; the news spreading, 
another Religious, called Friar Antonio Bartholomew of 
Montucio, came speedily with John, a lay-brother of 
Sienna, now residing at Rome. These four Religious, 



154 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

all of whom still live, wept and prayed around the 
expiring Catharine. 

At the moment in which Catharine was breathing her 
last sigh, Brother John felt such an intense grief, that the 
force of his sobs and cries ruptured a vein in his breast. 
He was immediately attacked with a violent cough and 
such a large hemorrhage that his state appeared desperate. 
This spectacle augmented the sorrow of the assistants : 
those who were grieving for Catharine's death, were soon 
also to be called to mourn that of the poor lay-brother. 
Then Friar Thomas, Catharine's Confessor, said, with 
strong faith, to Brother John : ''I know the influence of 
that holy woman with God, you need only apply her hand 
to the place in which you suffer such violent pain, and 
you will certainly be cured." The Brother did it before 
the eyes of all present, and at the same moment he was 
as perfectly cured as if he had experienced no accident. 
Brother John related this incident to all who wish to 
hear it, and affirms it by an oath. Besides the Brothers 
whom I have just named, there were for witnesses her 
companion and her spiritual daughter Alessia, who now 
dwells with her in Heaven, whither she followed her shortly 
after her death. Nearly all the neighbors also saw 
Catharine dead, as well as the numbers of men and 
w^omen who commonly present themselves in such circum- 
stances, and no one had a doubt but that she had truly 
exhaled her last breath. As to the fact of the elevation 
of her body, which we described at the beginning of this 
chapter, it had for witnesses several Sisters of Penance 
of St, Dominic, among others, Catharine, daughter of 
Ghetto of Sienna, who was during a long time her 
inseparable companion. 



CHAPTER VI. 

OP MIRACLES WROUGHT BT CATHARINE'S INTERCESSION FOR PROMOTINQ 
THE SALVATION OF SOULS. 

Were I obliged to recount all the miracles that God 
performed through the intercession of Catharine, for the 
salvation of souls, a chapter would not suffice, but several 
volumes would be necessary. In order not to be too 
lengthy, I have abridged as much as possible — what I 
relate will enable what I suppress to be comprehended ; 
spirit is superior to matter, and miracles accomplished 
for the salvation of souls, surpass those performed for the 
health of the body. I will commence with the more 
noble, following generally the order of time in my recital, 
but I shall be occasionally forced to depart from the 
division I have attempted. These miracles, particularly 
which refer to souls have been ignored by men ; they 
have sometimes no other proof than the confidence that 
she gave to me and to a few others ; but this will not 
prevent pious persons from crediting them. 

Catharine's father, Jacomo, (James) had recognized 
the holiness of his daughter, and entertained a respectful 
tenderness for her ; he recommended all the members of 
his household not to contradict her in anything and to 
allow her to act according to her own views. Hence 
their affection daily grew stronger ; Catharine prayed 
incessantly for the salvation of her father, while Jacomo 
delighted in the sanctity of his child, by whose merits he 
hoped to obtain grace before our Lord. At length 

(155) 



156 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

Jacorao^s term of life was drawing to a close, and he 
took to his bed being very seriously ill. Catharine began 
to intercede with her divine Spouse to obtain the restora- 
tion of one so tenderly loved, but He answered her that 
Jacorao was very near death, and that it would not be 
aseful to him to live longer. Catharine therefore repaired 
to the bedside of her cherished parent, and found him 
wholly disposed to quit the world without regret, and she 
thanked God with all the fervor of her heart. 

But her filial affection was not yet satisfied : she 
endeavored to obtain from the Source of all grace not 
only that her father's faults might be pardoned, but also 
that at the hour of death his soul might be borne to 
heaven without passing through the flames of purgatory. 
It was answered her that justice could not lose its rights, 
and that the soul must be perfectly pure to enjoy the 
splendors of glory. ''Thy father has lived well in the 
conjugal state, has done many things acceptable to me, 
and I am in particular pleased with his conduct towards 
thee ; but justice demand that his soul pass by the fire, to 
purify it from the stains that it has contracted in the 
world.'' '' most amiable Saviour," responded Catha- 
rine, ''how can I endure the thought of seeing him 
whom thou gavest me for father, who nourished me and 
brought me up with care, and who has been so kind to 
me, burning in such cruel flames ! I entreat thy divine 
bounty, not to permit his soul to leave his body, before 
by some means or other it is perfectly purified and has no 
need of the fire of Purgatory." God in his amazing 
mercy yielded to this prayer, and to the desire of his 
creature. Jacomo's strength was extinct, but his soul 
could not depart so long as the conflict lasted between 
Catharine and our Lord, the Redeemer alleging his plea 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES. 157 

of justice and Catharine invoking mercy. At last Cath- 
arine said: *'If I cannot obtain this grace without 
satisfying thy justice, let this justice be exercised towards 
me ; I am ready to undergo for my father whatever tliy 
goodness will deign to send me." Our Lord consented 
to this, " I cheerfully accept thy proposition, on account 
of thy love for me, and I exempt the soul of thy father 
from all expiatory pains, but during thy whole life thou 
shalt be the victim of a pain which I send thee." Cath- 
arine joyfully gave thanks to God, and asked that his 
divine will might be accomplished. Catharine hastened 
to the couch of her dying father, who was just sinking 
into agony ; she filled his heart with joy and strength, 
by giving him the assurance of his eternal salvation from 
the mouth of God himself, and never left him until he 
expired. At the instant his spirit quitted his body, 
Catharine was attacked with an acute pain in her side 
which she endured without relaxation until the day of 
her death. I had the declaration of it from herself, and 
all those who had relations with her saw many evident 
proofs of it — but her patience was greater than her pain. 
All that I have related here I learned from Catharine, 
when compassionating her sufferings I inquired their 
cause. I should add that at the moment her father 
breathed his last, she exclaimed with a gladsome counte- 
nance and a serene smile on her lips : ' * Bless God ! 
Father ; how happy were I now like thee !" Whilst they 
celebrated the funeral ceremonies and all around wept 
Catharine appeared gay and cheerful. She consoled her 
mother and every one else, and acted as calmly as if the 
deceased had been a stranger to her. It was because 
she had seen that dearly-loved soul joyfully escape the 
prison of the body, and soar unfettered to eternal light ; 

14 



158 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

and this sight had inundated her soul with comfort, 
because a few days previous she had tasted the bliss of 
celestial glory. 

Here let us admire the wisdom of divine Providence : 
the soul of Jacomo could certainly have been purified in 
another way and have been immediately admitted to 
glory, like the soul of the good thief on Calvary, who 
confessed our Lord on the Cross ; but God willed that 
Catharine should request it, not to try her, but to aug- 
ment her merits and her crown. Hence Catharine always 
spoke of her sweet, dear sufferings ; and she was correct, 
because sufferings augment the consolations of grace in 
this life and the delights of the glory to come. 

Having admired what Catharine did for the soul of a 
just man, let us see what happened in the soul of a sin- 
ner. In 1370, there was at Sienna a citizen named 
Andrea of Naddino ; a man rich in worldly and perisha- 
ble goods, but poor in interior and eternal wealth. With- 
out either the love or the fear of God, he subjected 
himself to the slavery of every vice. Gaming was his 
predominant passion, and he had a habit of blaspheming 
horribly. In the month of December of that same year, 
the fortieth of his age, he was attacked with a serious 
malady ; the physicians entertained no hope of his cure, 
and death threatened both the soul and body of this 
wretched impenitent. The curate of the parish came to 
visit him, hoping to prepare him for his last great change, 
but the sick man, who had never frequented the Church, 
nor respected its priests, despised his charitable warnings 
and repulsed him who gave them. Then his wife and 
and children, who ardently desired his salvation, invited 
several pious persons to come, who all endeavored to 
overcome his hardness of heart ; but neither the threats 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES. 159 

of eternal flames, nor the hopes of divine mercy could 
bend this unfortunate man, who was plunging into hell 
with all his crimes. The curate who saw death ap- 
proaching, was absorbed in grief: he returned with the 
morning dawn, and renewed his pressing efforts: but all 
proved useless. The unhappy man repulsed his discourse 
and refused him presence. He sunk deeper and deeper 
into final impenitence, and committed that sin against the 
Holy Ghost, by which the mercy of God is turned aside — 
naught awaited him but the chastisements of an irrevoca- 
ble justice. 

Friar Thomas, the Confessor of Catharine, was ac- 
quainted with what was passing. Grieved at the loss of 
this soul, he hastened to his penitent, and asked her, in 
the name of obedience and charity, to interest herself in 
this miserable man, and cry to God until she would pro- 
cure his pardon. When he arrived Catharine was in 
ecstacy, and it was impossible to draw her from her 
neavenly contemplations. As he could neither speak to 
her nor wait for her, on account of the approaching 
night, he recommended one of her companions, named 
Catharine, and who is still living, to explain to the ser- 
vant of God, as soon as she came to herself, the object 
of his visit. Catharine did not recover from her ecstacy 
until near five o'clock in the morning : her companion 
immediately gave the Confessor's commission and enjoined 
ner, in virtue of holy obedience, to ask for the conversion 
of the hard-hearted sinner. At this news Catharine, all 
inflamed with charity and compassion, began to pray to 
God with her whole strength, protesting that she could 
not allow her equal, her countryman, and her brotheVy 
because redeemed by the same Saviour, to perish in eter- 
nal flames. 



160 LIFE OF ST. CATH^VRINE OF SIENNA. 

The Lord answered. ^'This man's iniquities have 
mounted to Heaven — not only has he poured forth injuries 
against me and my saints, but he threw into the fire a 
picture representing me and my blessed Mother. Do not 
intercede for him ; it is just that he burn in eternal flames ; 
he merits death a thousand times. '^ 

Catharine prostrated herself at the feet of her divine 
Spouse, and bathed them with her tears— and prayed in 
aspirations like these : '' Didst thou not, loving Jesus ! 
bear this man's sins with ours on thy venerable 
shoulders ? Am I here to dispute thy justice, or to in- 
voke thy mercy ? Remember Lord thou didst promise to 
aid me in saving souls ; I have no other consolation but 
that of seeing them return to thee ; it is the only circum- 
stance that renders me capable of enduring thy absence. 
Kepel me not, most clement Jesus ! restore to me my 
brother; draw him from his hardened state !'^ Catha- 
rine continued, during several hours her vigil and her 
tears to obtain the salvation of that soul. 

God opposed the number and enormity of his crimes 
which demanded vengeance, and Catharine invoked the 
mercy that led him to come down to earth and die for sin- 
ners. At last mercy triumphed over justice, and our blessed 
Saviour said to Catharine: ''My beloved daughter, I 
suffer myself to be softened by thy tears ; I am going to 
convert him for whom thou prayest with such fervor. '' 

At that same instant our Lord appeared lo Andrea 
(Andrew) who was in extremities : '* Friend, '' said he to 
him, ''why will you not confess the sins that thou hast 
committed against me ? Confess them and I am ready 
to pardon thee all thy faults. '' 

These words suddenly softened that obstinate heart, 
and he cried out to those that served him: "Send quickly 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES 161 

for a priest, because I wish to confess. I see my Lord 
and Saviour who is inviting me to do so/^ The assistants 
filled with joy hastened to obey. The priest came, he 
performed all his last duties calmly, confessed perfectly, 
and died in wonderful sentiments of contrition and repen- 
tance. 

These, Lord, are the works that display thee in thy 
saints. To show the favor Catharine had before thee ; 
thou didst make known to her the danger of a man with 
w^hom she was not acquainted, but who had received from 
thee the same country and the same baptism. Thou 
didst grant naught to the prayers of the others, because 
thou wouldst grant all to those of thy beloved Spouse. 
Oh ! who would not love thee ! 

There were at Sienna, two notorious brigands that jus- 
tice had decreed to arrest — and they were condemned to 
expiate their crime in the most fearful torments. They 
w^ere going to death, attached to a stake, on a cart, and 
the executioners, armed with red hot pincers, tore 
theu' flesh in every part of their bodies. Neither in 
prison, nor at the approach of death, could they be 
induced to repent, nor persuaded to listen to a clergyman ; 
and at the very moment in which they were led through 
the town in order to inspire a wholesome dread of the 
laws, instead of recommending themselves to the prayers 
of the faithful, they blasphemed against God and his 
Saints. The fiery tortures which these wretched men 
endured were but a prelude to the torments that awaited 
them in hell ; but that Infinite Goodness who wills the 
death of none, and who does not twice punish the same 
faults, delivered these poor souls, by means of his faith- 
ful handmaid. 

Providence permitted that on that very day, Catharine 



162 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

should be at the house of Alessia, her companion and 
her spiritual daughter. Alessia, hearing in the morning 
the noise of the crowd, approached the window, and saw 
at some distance, the unhappy criminals who were conduc- 
ted and tormented by the executioners. She ran to Catha- 
rine, *' Mother I" cried she, '^ what a frightful spectacle 
directly before the house : here are two men who are con- 
demned to be torn with heated pincers passing by.'' 
Catharine, moved not by curiosity but by pity, advanced 
to the window, perceived the unhappy men, and retired 
at once to prayer. She informed me that she saw around 
them a troop of demons which were tormenting their 
souls still more than the executioners tortured their bodies. 
Hence she had recourse to fervent prayer, and conjured 
her Divine Spouse to save those souls who were on the 
eve of perishing. *'Ah! Lord,'' said she, ''w^hoartso 
clement, wilt thou so far abandon creatures formed to thy 
image, and redeemed by thy precious blood. The thief 
who was crucified at thy side really merited his punish- 
ment ; but thy grace visited him because at the moment 
in which thy apostles doubted, he confessed thee publicly, 
amid the ignominies of thy Passion, and he merited the 
hearing of thy promise ' To-day thou shalt he with me 
in Paradise. ' In that word, thou didst give hope of 
pardon to those who might resemble him. Thou didst 
not abandon Peter who denied thee, but gavest him a 
look of compassion ; thou didst not contemn Mary the 
sinner, but attracted her to thee ; and Matthew the pub- 
lican, the Cananean, and Zaccheus, the rich, thou didst 
not refuse to receive, but didst invite them to return. I 
entreat thee by all thy mercies, hasten to relieve these 
souls." 

At length she persuaded Him who desires to be inclined 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES. 163 

mercifully, and streams of pardoning grace flowed in a 
wonderful manner over the souls of these two miserable 
men. Catharine obtained the grace of assisting them in 
spirit, and of accompanying them as far as the city gates. 
She prayed and wept continually for their change of 
heart : the demons who saw her, said to her in fury : ''if 
thou dost not cease, we and these two reprobates, will 
torment thee to such a degree, that thou shalt become 
possessed.'' Catharine answered; "Whatever God 
wills, I will, I shall not discontinue what I have 
commenced." 

When the two criminals halted at the gate of the city, 
our merciful Redeemer appeared to them covered with 
wounds and bathed in blood. He exhorted them to con- 
version and promised them pardon. A ray of divine 
light immediately penetrated their hearts — they earnestly 
implored the assistance of a priest and confessed their 
sins with heartfelt sorrow. Their blasphemies were 
changed into pious aspirations ; they accused themselves, 
acknowledged that they merited even more terrible tor- 
ments and marched onward to death, as joyously as if 
they were going to a festival : instead of loading their 
executioners with insults, they thanked the Saviour, who 
in mercy permitted them to acquire, by these transient 
sorrows, a never-ending glory. All the assistants were 
in admiration at such a change : the torturers themselves 
were deeply affected, and dared no longer increase their 
cruelties, on seeing them in such sentiments, but no one 
knew whence came this miracle of grace. The good and 
zealous clergyman who accompanied these hardened sin- 
ners endeavoring to convert them, gave these details to 
Friar Thomas, Catharine's Confessor. The latter, 
having questioned Alessia, was able to certify that at the 



164 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

very moment in which Catharine concluded her prayer 
and came forth from her ecstasy, the two condemned 
gave up their last sighs. I also received Catharine's 
entire confidence concerning all the particulars, and I 
found them in every circumstance conformed to what 
Friar Thomas had written. He only adds that a few days 
after the death of the two converted brigands, the com- 
panions of Catharine heard her say, whilst she was 
praying. ^^ Lord I thank thee for having delivered 
them from a second prison,^ ^ Brother Thomas asked 
her what these w^ords signified ; she answered that the 
two malefactors enjoyed the glory of heaven ; that they 
entered Purgatory, but she had obtained their deliver- 
ance. 

These circumstances can scarcely fail of surprising 
those who read them, because they do not fall under the 
corporeal senses ; but if we consult St. Augustine and 
St. Gregory, it will be seen that this miracle is greater 
than if those unfortunate men had been resuscitated after 
death ; for, according to the expression of St. Gregory, 
a body raised to life must die again, but in this case the 
soul is revivified for all eternity : in the resurrection of 
the body, the divine power meets no obstacle ; but in 
that of souls, the free-will of man can resist and repel 
the action of grace : hence the convertion of a sinner 
displays the divine power more gloriously, than the crea- 
tion of the entire world. It is related of St. Martin, 
that by the virtue of the Holy Trinity, he had the glory 
of raising three individuals from death to life, and St. 
Nicholas is also admired for having saved three innocents 
condemned to the worst torments. What then shall be 
said of Catharine w^ho, by the power of her prayers, sud- 
denly saved two guilty souls from everlasting death, and 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES. 165 

who drew from purgatorial fires, their souls whica were 
plunged into them. Is not this greater and more amaz- 
ing ? Believe me reader, I saw many prodigies effected 
by this holy woman ; but I find none comparable to this 
which I have just narrated : no, never in any case was 
the power of the Most High so largely manifested, never 
did the unction of grace flow so abundantly. 

Catharine obtained another extraordinary grace of con- 
version, which I mast not bury in silence. There was in 
Sienna, a man named Francis Tholomei, and who still 
lives : his wife is named Rabes ; they had several sons 
and daughters. The eldest, Jacques, led a criminal life ; 
he was excessively proud, and such was his ferocity, that 
although young, his hand had twice been imbrued in the 
blood of his neighbor ; his horrible deeds made him the 
terror of all who knew him ; no idea, no fear of God 
withheld him, and he added crime to crime. He had a 
sister named Ghinoccia, who was passionately /o?ic? of the 
world, in the worst sense of that expression ; she was 
continually occupied in vainly adorning her person, and 
if she were not wholly lost, it was because she merely 
dreaded human opinion. Their pious mother Rabes 
feared for the salvation of her children ; she v/ent to 
Catharine aud implored her to be so charitable as to 
speak on religion to her two daughters, especially to 
Ghinoccia. Catharine, who so ardently loved souls, 
consented, and succeeded so well with Ghinoccia, that 
Jesus triumphed in her affections, and she renounced all 
the senseless joys of the world: — she cut off her long and 
glossy hair, that had proved a source of vanity to her, 
took the habit of the Sisters of Penance of St, Dominic, 
and persevered, as I can affirm, in the . mQ$ii a®aif able 
practices of devotion. I was frequ^^Mf^ obliged to mod- 



166 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

erate the rigor of her austerities. Her sister Francoise, 
(Frances) followed her example closely ; she also assumed 
the holy livery of penance, and it was an affecting sight 
to behold those two sisters so lately captivated with van- 
ity, contesting suddenly its every form in their own per- 
sons and that with courage and perseverance. 

At the moment of their conversion, Jacques Tholoraei 
was absent ; as soon as he learned this, he returned to 
the city in a paroxysm of rage against his youthful broth- 
ers ; in his arrogance he uttered the most terrible threats 
and menaced tearing off his sister's holy habit, and con- 
ducting her back with him, to withdraw her from the 
influence of those who had converted her. But his little 
brother said, in an inspired tone: ''Jacques, I assure 
thee, that wert thou to go to Sienna, thou wouldst be 
converted and wouldst confess thy sins. " But he ill- 
treated the child, and replied that he would sooner kill 
all the priests and the religious. The child reiterated 
his prophecy, and Jacques his threats and maledictions. 
They at last arrived at the city and Jacques entered his 
home in a perfect fury, declaring that he would commit 
the worst violence, did not his sister renounce her habit 
and follow him without delay. 

Babes, succeeded in appeasing and calming his pas- 
sion until the morrow. In the morning she sent word to 
Friar Thomas, the Confessor of Catharine, who provi- 
dentially took as companion. Friar Bartholomew of St. 
Dominic. He sought Jacques, conversed with him, yet 
apparently obtained nothing favorable — but Catharine by 
a supernatural light, knew all that was passing, and suppli- 
cated God for the wicked youth's conversion. The Lord 
heard her prayer, and touched that obdurate heart. He 
yielded to the exhortations of Brother Bartholomew, after 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES. 16T 

Laving obstinately repelled those of Brother Thomas ; 
and not only did he permit his sister to serve God as she 
wished, bnt humbled himself and confessed his faults with 
lively sorrow ; to use Catharine's expression, he ejected 
all the poison that defiled his soul, and accused himself 
of sins that he would never before acknowledge. The 
wolf was changed into a lamb ; the fierce lion had be- 
come docile as a child, and all the witnesses were filled 
with admiration. His mother could find no explanation 
for this astonishing change ; his sisters congratulated 
him, and the whole household returned thanks to God. 
The two Religious, full of joy, hastened to bear the joy- 
ous news to Catharine. 

The Saint, who had seen all in spirit, and who had 
obtained that grace from the Lord, had not yet come out 
of ecstacy, but continued to enjoy the caresses of her Di- 
vine Spouse. Before the religious brethren entered her 
room, however, she said: *'We must render thanks to 
God, because Jacques Tholomei, who was a slave to 
Satan, was delivered this morning ; he has confessed to 
Friar Bartholomew.'^ When the Religious described 
their joy, Catharine's companion replied: "She was 
just relating it to me as you entered." Catharine then 
said to them with her usual edifying manner : " Fathers, 
we must give thanks to God who never disregard the 
prayers of his servants, and the good desires which his 
own divine Spirit inspires. The enemy of salvation, 
had resolved to rob us of that dear sheep, but the Father 
of mercies defended his own ; he imagined that he had 
also gained Ghinoccia from our Lord ; and he has lost 
Jacques of whom he had become master. Indeed, our 
divine Shepherd assures us in the Gospel : ' that no one 
can take from him his own.' " (St. John v. 28.) Ghinoc- 



168 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

cia was indeed a constant example of piety and mortifi- 
cation ; she persevered until death in the service of God, 
and slept joyfully in the Lord, after having supported 
with the most admirable patience, a long and painful ill- 
ness. 

Her sister Frances who imitated her, survived her but 
a short interval. Always satisfied, even amid the most 
excruciating pains, she expired with a smile on her lips. 
Matthew, the brother next in age to Jacques, renounced 
the world, and entered the order of St. Dominic, which he 
still edifies by his virtues. As to Jacques, he married, but 
he never relapsed into his attacks of passion, being 
always peaceful and meek. All this good was accom- 
plished by means of Catharine, who obtained from her 
Spouse the graces appropriate to each individual. 

The narrative which I now present was not less won- 
derful : I was aloHC witness of the attendant circumstances, 
but God knows my veracity, and besides, its results were 
made public. There dwelt, in Sienna, a man perfectly 
well known among persons of the world, and possessed 
of surprising genius, which was not regulated by the law 
of God. His name was Nanni or Vanni. As is fre- 
quent among his countrymen, he indulged private hatred, 
and he knew how to satisfy vengeance by striking in the 
dark. Several murders had been committed, but they 
who were their authors dreaded Nanni more than others, 
because they were acquainted with his deadly malice. 
They had often employed mediators to induce him to be 
reconciled, but he always answered with hypocrisy, that 
he was a complete stranger in those affairs, and that it 
did not depend on him to make peace. He alone, how- 
ever, offered an obstacle, so as to be able to satiate his 
vengeance when he could find an opportunity. 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES. 169 

Catharine was aware of this disorder and was desirons 
of arresting its progress, by conversiog with Nanni ; 
but the latter carefully avoided her. In fine, a holy man, 
Brother William of England, of the Order of Hermits 
of St. Augustine, pressed him so much, that he consented 
to see and hear Catharine ; but at the same time refusing 
to pledge himself to do what she might desire : he came in 
effect, to the house at a moment in which I was myself 
awaiting the arrival of the servant of God, who was 
occupied somewhere in the salvation of souls. They in- 
formed me that Xanni was waiting to converse with 
Catharine. I went down with a glad heart, because I 
knew how much Catharine desired this interview ; I 
announced her absence, but pressed him to wait a little, 
and to beguile the time, I introduced him into the little 
cell, sanctified by the spouse of Jesus Christ. After a 
few moments Nanni became weary and said: *' I pro- 
mised Friar William to come here and listen to this lady ; 
she is absent, and my occupations prevent me from 
remaining longer ; will you be so kind as to excuse me, — 
but really I have too much to do to admit my tarrying 
longer.'' 

I was quite distressed by Catharine -s absence, but so 
as to restrain all sign of impatience, I began to speak of 
reconciliation, but he said to me : " See, now, you are a 
priest and a religious, and this good lady enjoys a great 
reputation for sanctity ; I must not deceive you. I there- 
fore tell you frankly, and declare to you that I will do 
nothing of what you request from me ; it is true that I 
prevent peace, but I wish that it be kept secret. Did I 
but give my consent, all would be arranged ; I refuse -, 
and it is useless to preach to me on that subject, you will 
obtain nothing ; it is already considerable to have told 

15 



ItO LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

you with so mucli freedom what I concealed from others. 
Do not torment me further on the subject.'' I would 
insist, and he refused to hear me, when God permitted 
that Catharine should become the instrument of recon- 
ciliation. Her arrival was as disagreeable to Nanni, as 
agreeble to me. As soon as she perceived us, she saluted 
this man of the world with angelic charity ; she seated 
herself and then inquired the motive of his visit. Nanni 
repeated to her what he had just told me and declared 
also that he would make no concession. Catharine repre- 
sented to him with as much force as sweetness, the 
danger to which he exposed his soul ; but the unhappy 
man would hear nothing and closed his heart to her 
moving solicitations. Then, the holy woman went alone 
to pray and implore God's assistance ; I hoped that she 
would be heard, and began to discuss with Nanni so as 
to gain time. Only a few moments had expired ere the 
obstinate man said to us : ''Through politeness I will not 
refuse you totally, I liaise four enmities ; I consent to 
sacrifice the one which will afford you the greatest 
pleasure." And he arouse to withdraw, when on a sud- 
den he exclaimed ''0 my God, what consolation my 
heart feels for this sole word of peace that I have pro- 
nounced," then added: '' my Lord and my God I 
what power retains and triumphs over me ; I cannot go 
away and I have not the force to refuse. What can it be 
that exerts such an influence over me ? Yes, I confess 
that I am vanquished — I cannot draw my breath" — then 
falling on his knees, he said, sobbing ''Holy Yirgin be- 
hold me ready to do whatever you command relative to 
peace, and all else. I see now that Satan held me in 
chains ; henceforth I resign myself to thy counsels ; in 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES. 171 

pity direct my soul and draw it from the snares of the 
enemy. '^ 

At this moment Catharine who had entered into 
eestaey, as was usual, returned to herself and gave thanks 
to God: **Dear Brother," said she, ''the mercy o^ 
God has at length manifested to you your danger, I spoke 
to you and you refused to listen ; then I turned to God 
who has not despised my petition." ]N'anni confessed to 
me without delay and with humble contrition ; Catharine 
reconciled him with all his enemies, while I restored him 
to peace with God whom he had so long offended ! 

A few days after his conversion, Nanni was arrested by 
the Governor of the city and thrown in a close prison ; 
a report was current that he was to suffer decapitation ; 
this news afflicted me, and I went to find Catharine. 
'^ Nothing unfortunate," said I, ''occurred to Nanni 
when he obeyed Satan, and now that he has given him- 
self to God, heaven and earth appear to declare against 
him. I fear, Mother, that this plant is yet too young for 
supporting such a storm ; the poor man may fall into despair, 
I entreat you, pray for him ; you have delivered him from 
sin, now you must sustain him in his misfortunes. '' 
Catharine answered me : " Why are you alarmed on his 
account ? you should rather rejoice. Do you not see the 
evidence that God has pardoned him the debt of eternal 
punishment, because he sends him temporal troubles. 
Our Lord's word is accomplished, the world loves what 
belongs to it ; but now that he has quitted the world, the 
world detests him. God was preparing endless chastise- 
ment for him, but his mercy is satisfied with punishing 
him in this world. Fear not that he will fall into des- 
pair, He who saved him from hell, will also draw him 
from this dangler. '' 



172 LIPE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

It happened as she announced. A short time after, 
Xanni came out of prison, but he was obliged to pay very 
heavy sums, and Catharine rejoiced, saying: *'That 
God was taking away the venom that impoisoned him." 
Tribulation only augmented his fervor ; he desired to 
give Catharine, by an authentic act, a beautiful residence 
which he possessed, about two miles from the city, so that 
she might establish a monastery of females. Catherine 
did this with the special authorization of Gregory XI. of 
happy memory, and bestowed on it the name of ''Holy 
Mary of the AngeU. " I assisted at the consecration with 
all her spiritual family ; the commissary designated by the 
Sovereign Pontiff was Friar John, abbot of the convent 
of St. Anthime. This conversion, operated by the omni- 
potent hand of God, is due to Catharine's prayers. I 
can myself render testimony of it. I was during several 
years Xanni's Confessor, and I know that he made great 
progress in good, during the time that I knew him. 

Volumes would not suffice for relating all that our 
Lord accomplished by his faithful Spouse, for the conver- 
sion of sinners, the spiritual advancement of the good, 
the encouragement of the weak, the consolation of the 
afflicted, the warning of souls in danger, etc. Who 
could compute the miserable whom she saved from hell, 
the hardened hearts that she has touched, the worldlings 
detached from vanity, persons tempted that she assisted 
by her prayers and freed from the demon by her counsels, 
the elect whom she directed in the path of virtue, 
those whose good desires she aided in progress towards 
perfection, those whom she saved from the abyss of vice 
and conducted to heaven, by bearing them, so to speak, 
in her arms, suffering and praying for their salvation ? 
Yes, I may say as St Jerome said to St. Paul : '' Were 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES. HS 

I gifted with a thousand tongues, it would be impossible 
for me to enumerate the fruits of salvation borne by this 
virginal plant, and cultivated by the Father in Heaven.'^ 
I have often seen thousands of men and women hastening 
to her from the summits of the mountains and from the 
surrounding country, as though a mysterious trumpet in- 
vited them ; they came to see and hear ; her words were 
even sometimes useless, while her presence sufficed to 
convert them and inspire them with a lively contrition ; 
all renounced their sins, and sought the tribunal of pen- 
ance ; then I was witness of the sincerity of their repen- 
tance, and it was evident to me that a superabundant 
grace acted in their hearts ; and this happened not once, 
Hor twice, but very often. 

The Sovereign Pontiff, Gregory XI., consoled and 
delighted with the good effected in souls, granted to me 
and two companions, the powers reserved to Bishops, for 
absolving all those who went to Catharine and confessed. 
We, therefore, heard men and women of heinous guilt, 
soiled with every variety of crime, who had either never 
confessed, or who had not done it in suitable dispositions. 
We sometimes remained fasting until the evening, and yet 
we could not suffice to all who presented themselves. I 
acknowledge to my shame and Catharine's honor, that 
the multitude was frequently so considerable, that I was 
fatigued and discouraged. As to Catharine, she did not 
interrupt her prayer, and rejoiced in conquering souls for 
our blessed Master : she simply recommended to those 
who accompanied her to take care of us, who held the 
nets which she knew so well how to fill. Id would be 
impossible to describe her joy ; what we saw exteriorly, 
consoled us greatly and induced us to forget our fatigues. 

15* 



1Y4 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

I will not enlarge further on the miracles that God 
wrought through Catharine ; perchance the reader may 
have found this chapter lengthy, yet it is short in compa- 
rison with what we had to say. 



CHAPTER VII. 

OP SOME MIRACLES OBTAINED BY CATHARINE, FOR THE LIPB OR 
HEALTH OF THE NEIGHBOR. 

I INTEND now to relate a circumstance amazing indeed, 
in our time, and yet very easy to Him, with whom all 
things are possible. Lapa, Catharine's mother, was very 
simple and very kind, but not very desirous of invisible 
goods ; she always had a great terror of quitting this life. 
After the death of her husband she also fell ill, and soon 
excited serious anxiety. Catharine, had recourse as usual 
to prayer, and entreated the Lord to deign to relieve her 
mother. It was answered her that Lapa would be saved 
if she died then, and that, thus, should avoid many heavy 
trials which menaced her. Catharine went to her mother 
and made the sweetest exhortations in order to prepare 
her, if God were to call, by engaging her to a compl te 
submission to his holy will ; but Lapa, too deeply attached 
to earthly things, was horrified at the thought of leaving 
them ; she conjured her daughter to plead with our Lord 
for her cure, and not to mention death. The Spouse of 
our Lord saw with pain these dispositions, and prayed in 
anguish that our Lord would not permit her to die, be- 
fore she was perfectly submissive to his will. God com- 
plied with Catharine's prayer; the malady of Lapa 
became more alarming, but death was still averted. 
Catharine intervened between God and her mother, by 
her prayers and exhortations ; she entreated God not to 
take her kind mother from the world, without her own 

(175) 



IT 6 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

consent ; she exhorted her mother to submit to the good 
pleasure of God ; but her prayers were more prevalent 
with our Lord, than with the mind of the patient. Hence 
our Redeemer said to his Spouse. ''Announce to thy 
mother who is unwilling to die at present, that a day will 
arrive in which she will ardently sigh for death, without 
obtaining if I can testify, with many others, the ful- 
fillment of this prophecy. Lapa attained an extreme old 
age, and had so much to endure in persons and things 
that she loved, that she was continually saying: ''God 
has riveted my soul to my body, so that it cannot be sep- 
arated from it; how many children and grand-children 
have I already lost ? it is only I that cannot die, I am 
left to feel the sufferings and death of all the others." 

Lapa's heart was so obstinate, that she did not think 
of her soul's salvation. God then appeared to refuse his 
Spouse what he granted her at first. After having 
deferred, in accordance with her petition, the death of her 
mother, he permitted, in order to display her merits, that 
Lapa should die without having confessed. Her daughter, 
at the view of this misfortune cried to heaven, dissolved 
in tears: "Ah ! Lord my God, are these the promises 
thou gavest me that none of mine should perish ? Was 
not thy mercy pledged not to withdraw my mother from 
the world but when she would consent to it ; and behold 
she is dead without receiving the Sacraments of the 
Church ; in the name of thy infinite Bounty, suffer not 
my hopes to be thus deceived. I will not leave thy pre- 
sence, until thou dost restore to me my mother. *' Three 
Ladies of Sienna, whose names we will give, were then 
present and heard these words. They saw Lapa breathe 
her last, and touched her body which gave no signs of 
life ; they would have made every preparation for her 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES. Ht 

interment, had they not waited for Catharine to complete 
her prayer. The Most High beheld the anguish of Cath- 
arine's heart and her humble and fervent supplications 
penetrated to the mercy-seat. The God of mercy and 
of consolation heard her, for the body of Lapa suddenly 
recovered motion ; life returned completely and she soon 
resumed her ordinary occupation. She lived until the 
age of eighty-nine years, in the midst of affliction, pri- 
vations and trials, just as her daughter had announced to 
her on the part of God. 

The witnesses of this miracle were, Catharine Getti, 
Angela Yannini, ("actually a Sister of Penance of St 
Dominic) and Lysa, Catharine's sister-in-law : and 
Lapa's daughter-in-law : they still live and are all in 
Sienna ; they heard Catharine when she said beside her 
dear mother, ''Lord are these thy promises ?" Thou- 
sands of persons knew Lapa after that period. All this 
shows Catharine's merit before God, for she preserved 
her father's soul from purgatory and recalled to life the 
inanimate body of her mother. This miracle took place 
in the month of October, 13Y0. 

The following fact I can particularly attest. Seven- 
teen years ago, that is 1373 or 1314, religious obedience 
summoned me to Sienna, where I exercised in the Convent 
of my Order, the functions of Lector. I was serving 
God in a lukewarm manner, when the plague declared 
itself, and raged as it had done in many places during our 
time, but never so fearfully as in Sienna. The contagion 
attacked men and persons of all ages ; one day, two or 
even three days at most, sufficed to make one the victim 
of its empoisoned breath. In consequence terror reigned 
everywhere ; zeal for souls, which is the spirit of the 
Order of St. Dominic obliged me to devote myself to the 



178 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

salvation of the neighbor. I therefore visited the sick, 
and I went very often to * ' Sainte Marie de la Miser- 
corde.'' The director of that house was at that time 
Father Matthew who still lives. This man of holy life 
and reputation, was extremely attached to Catharine, 
and the virtue which heaven had accorded to him had 
inspired me with a warm affection for him. I was in the 
habit of seeing him once every day. One morning after 
the Conventual Mass, I went out to visit my sick and as 
I passed the House of Mercy, I inquired whether any 
one in the establishment had been attacked with plague. 
On entering, I found Father Matthew whom the brothers 
were carrying like a corpse from the church to his room ; 
bis countenance was pale, his strength had forsaken him 
to such a degree, that he was incapable of speaking : 
when I inquired what he suffered he could not answer me. 
I therefore addressed myself to those who were accom- 
panying him, and questioned them concerning what had 
happened to my friend : *' Last night,'' said they to me, 
*' about eleven o'clock, whilst he was watching near a sick 
person, he perceived himself stricken with the epidemic ; 
and in a few moments, he fell into extreme weakness." 
I followed them to the sick man's bed, I bent over him, 
and when he had reposed a short time, he called for me 
and confessed as he was accustomed to do. After giving 
him absolution, I asked him what he suffered : He ex- 
plained to me in what region he felt the pain ; adding that 
it seemed to him that one of his legs was breaking and 
that his head was separating into four parts." I then 
felt his pulse, and saw in effect that he was suffering a 
violent fever. I recommended those who were taking care 
of him to explain certain things to doctor Senso, his physi- 
cian, who is still living and was deeply attached to him. 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES. 179 

I returned to visit him a short time after. Doctor Senso 
declared to rae that my friend had the plague, and that 
every symptom announced the approach of death. ''It 
is evident that the blood is inflamed in the liver ; it is the 
reigning malady, and I greatly fear that the House of 
Mercy is soon to be deprived of its good director." I 
asked him if the medical art could not furnish some 
remedy ? * 'We shall see to-night, ' ^ answered he, ' 'whether 
with the 'quintessence of cassia,' we can succeed in 
purifying the blood ; but I have only a faint hope in this 
remedy, as the disease is too far advanced." After this 
response of the medical adviser, I withdrew, being very 
sad, and directed my steps towards the residence of the 
patient, praying God, mercifully to retain in the world, 
a man of so useful an example. 

However, Catharine had learned the illness of Father 
Matthew whom she loved sincerely, on account of his 
many virtues ; her heart w^as touched, and she speedily 
repaired to him whom she was unwilling to lose. Hardly 
had she entered the apartment, than she cried : " Get up 
Father Matthew, arise, this is not the moment to repose 
indolently in your bed.'' At the very instant in which 
she uttered these words, the fever and the marks* of the 
pestilence disappeared ; Father Matthew found himself 
as free from pain, as though he had not been sick. Na- 
ture had obeyed her Master, w^ho commanded by Catha- 
rine's mouth ; and his word had restored the sufferer to 
perfect health. Father Matthew arose joyfully, and 
blessed the Lord for the power he had bestowed on his 
handmaid. Catharine modestly retired, to avoid the 
admiration of men ; but at the moment in W'hich she 

^ The plague spots. 



180 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

withdrew from the house, I entered it, ignorant of what 
had passed, and believing my friend to be still very sick. 
As soon as I saw her, my grief urged me to say, with 
deep anxiety: ''Mother, will you allow a person so dear 
and so useful to die ? ' Shej wishing to conceal what 
she had done beneath the veil of humility, appeared to be 
annoyed at my words. *'In what terms do you address 
me," said she, ''am I like God, to deliver a man from 
death?" But I, beside myself with sorrow, continued: 
'' Say that to others if you will ; as to me who am well 
acquainted with your secrets, I know that you obtain from 
God whatever you ask with fervor. ^' Then she bowed 
her head and smiled a little ; after which she looked at 
me with a joyous countenance, saying: "Well, let us 
take courage, he shall not die this time." 

At these words I banished all fear ; I understood that 
she had obtained some grace from heaven. I left her, 
and went very contentedly to my sick friend, whom I 
found seated at his bedside and recounting to everybody 
the miracle that Catharine had just effected. I informed 
him that she had that moment assured me that he should 
not die of this malady. '' Are you ignorant," replied he, 
" of what she has just done for me ?" When I told him 
that I was not aware of anything, and that all she said 
to me was contained in that pleasing assurance, he stood 
up, much surprised, and joyfully narrated what I have 
here written. To attest the miracle more solidly the 
table was laid,- and Father Matthew seated himself at it 
with us : they served him with food scarcely suitable for 
a sick man — vegetables and some raw onions — he, who 
an instant previous could not take anything, shared them 
with us ; he chatted and laughed gaily ; whilst that very 
morning he could scarcely pronounce one audible word. 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES. 181 

Admiration and joy were general ; all praised God who 
had bestowed so great a favor, and conversed approvingly 
and with holy envy of the merits of the saint who had 
obtained them. This miracle had also for witness, brother 
Nicolas d 'Andrea of Sienna, of the Order of the Friar 
Preachers ; he yet lives, and accompanied me on that 
day. Those who were resident in the house, pupils, 
priests, and more than twenty persons besides, saw what 
I have related. 

Such as have not had their hearts touched may per- 
chance say : what is there astonishing in the cure of a 
malady, even though it be serious ? does not that happen 
naturally every day ? I will respond to them by asking 
them : Why the Gospel recounts that our Lord healed 
Simon's mother-in-law, who was ill with a fever? Do 
we not continually see men relieved of violent fevers ? 
Why then does the Evangelist cite this fact as a miracle ? 
Let him who sees nothing beyond the letter, give atten- 
tion to what the sacred writer has deigned to observe : 
'^He approached her,'' says he, '^he commanded the 
fever, the fever immediately left her, rising instantly she 
served them." (St. Luke iv. 39.) The proof of the 
miracle lies in the sudden disappearance of the fever, at 
the sole command of the Saviour, and without any natu- 
ral remedy ; she who had been so long sick and bed-rid- 
den, arose without any exterior help ; therefore, in what 
I have said, the eyes must be closed voluntarily, if the 
truth is not perceived. That God who had healed the 
mother-in-law of Simon, dwelt in Catharine ; she did not 
approach, but afar, she commanded fever and pestilence, 
and without remedy and without delay, Father Matthew 
was delivered. Open, therefore, the eyes of the mind 5 
be not incredulous but believing. 

18 



182 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

There was, near the House of Mercy, a very pious 
woman, who wore, if I remember rightly, the habit of 
the Sisters of Penance of St. Dominic. In her admira- 
tion of Catharine's virtues, she desired to consecrate 
herself to her service ; she followed her counsels with 
docility, was edified by her examples, and entertained to- 
wards her sentiments of profound veneration. It hap- 
pened one day, that this woman being at home, the floor 
gave way beneath her, and dragged her downward in its 
descent ; she was covered with contusions ; her whole 
body was one general wound. The neighbors assembled 
in all haste, to draw her from amidst the fallen stones 
and timbers ; they thought her killed. However, thanks 
be to God, they were able to remove her to her bed, 
where by degrees her consciousness returned ; but it was 
to suffer horribly. The pain drew from her both tears 
and shrieks, and she detailed what she was enduring to 
those who surrounded her. Medical aid was obtained, 
and all was done for her that was possible ; yet the poor 
woman could not move, and suffered a martyrdom in 
every limb. 

As soon as Catharine heard it, she was filled with com- 
passion for one who was her Sister, and who had made 
herself her servant. She went immediately to visit her, 
and exhorted her to patience by devout instruction. 
When she saw her suffering so excessively, she began to 
touch, (as though she would administer relief, ) the places 
of which she complained ; the patient willingly consented 
because she knew that those blessed hands could not fail 
of doing her good. As soon as Catharine touched any 
place, its pain vanished : hence the sick woman showed 
her the other parts that were tormented so that she might 
apply the same remedy, and Catharine lent herself to this 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES. 183 

charity with so much care, that she finished by completely 
healing her. In proportion as her virginal hand glided 
over her braised body, the pain disappeared, and the sick 
woman who could not move a single member, recovered 
little by little her liberty of motion : she kept silence 
whilst Catharine was present lest she might alarm her 
humility, but afterwards she said to the physicians and 
neighbors that were surrounding her: — *' Catharine, 
Lapa's daughter, has cured me by touching me.'' All 
were in admiration and gave glory to God ; for it was 
immpossible not to admit that this restoration proceeded 
from a divine virtue : I have related this miracle on the 
testimony of others, because when it was wrought, I was 
not yet acquainted with Catharine and did not even re- 
side in Sienna. 

During the same pestilence, a hermit called ^^ The 
Saint, " and who was so indeed, was attacked by the 
contagion. As soon as Catharine heard it, she caused 
him to be carried from the cell in which he lived outside 
of Sienna, to the House of Mercy ; she visited him with 
her companions, and was attentive to see that he had all 
necessary care. She approached him and said in a low 
tone. *' Do not fear, however ill you may become you will 
not die this time.'' But she told us nothing similar, 
when we requested her to pray for his cure. She on the 
contrary, appeared like ourselves to fear his death ; and 
we were much grieved being sincerely attached to this 
pious man. The illness grew hourly worse, and we were 
beginning to despair of the safety of the body, and think 
only of the salvation of the soul. All physical energy 
appeared extinct, and we diverted his expiring sigh. 
Catharine said again in the patient's ear, ^^Fear not, 
you will not die." He who appeared to be unconscious, 



184 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

understood her perfectly, and believed more strongly in 
her word than in death whose presence he felt. And in 
effect, Catharine's word triumphed over the laws of 
nature ; and divine virtue, more powerful than all human 
remedies, saved the dying man against all hope. 

We were already preparing for his interment, and 
several days elapsed without amelioration. Catharine 
arrived and said in the ear of the sick man : "I com- 
mand you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, not to 
die." Life and strength immediately returned. The 
saintly man rose from his bed and asked for something to 
eat. A few moments sufficed for a complete cure : he 
related to us what Catharine had said to him, and that 
he had felt a divine energy retaining his soul which en- 
deavored to escape. He affirmed that he was not cured 
by any natural cause, and believed this miracle to be as 
great as though he had arisen from the dead. 

Having spoken of others, I must not pass in silence 
what Catharine did for me. When the plague was raging 
in Sienna, I resolved to sacrifice my life for the salvation 
of souls and not to avoid any pestiferous patient what- 
ever : it is certain that the malady is contagious ; but 
I also knew that our Lord Jesus Christ, is more potent 
than Galen and that grace is superior to nature. I also 
saw that many had taken flight, and that the dying re- 
mained without assistance ; and as the blessed Catharine 
had taught me that charity obliges us to love the soul of 
the neighbor more than our own body, I was desirous of 
assisting as many sick as I could, and I did so by God's 
grace. I was almost alone in that vast city, and had 
scarcely time to take a little food and sleep. One night 
as I reposed, and the time approached to rise and re- 
cite my Office, I felt a violent pain in the region of the 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES. 185 

body first attacked by the reigning epidemic ; my hand 
discovered to me the fatal swelling ; frightened at this dis- 
covery I dared not rise and began to think seriously of death. 
I longed for the day, so that I could find Catharine before 
the disease made progress : the fever and pains in the 
head soon seized me ; my fears augmented ; I had how- 
ever sufficient strength to recite my prayers. When 
morning came, I dragged myself with my companion, to 
Catharine's residence ; but she was absent, having 
already been visiting a sick person. I decided to wait, 
and as I could no longer support myself, I was obliged 
to lie down on a bed which was there : I besought the 
person of the house not to delay sending for her. When 
she came, and saw my excessive suffering, she knelt 
down by my bed, placed her hand on my forehead, and 
began to pray interiorly as usual ; I saw her enter into an 
ecstasy and I thought that there would soon result some 
good both for my soul and body. She remained thus, 
during nearly an hour and a half, when I felt a universal 
movement in my every limb : I was persuaded it was a 
prelude to vomitings, such as those I had witnessed in 
several persons that I saw die ; but I was in error, it 
seemed as if something escaped from all the extremities 
of my body with a violent impulse ; I began to feel an 
amelioration which augmented at every moment : before 
Catharine had recovered the use of her senses, I was 
completely cured, there only remained to me a certain 
weakness, a proof of my illness, or an effect of my want 
of faith. Catharine, aware of the grace that she had 
obtained from her Spouse, came to herself and caused 
them to prepare for me the ordinary nourishment common 
to the sick. When I had taken it from her virginal 
hands, she ordered me to sleep a little ; I obeyed, and 



186 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

on awaking I found myself as active as if nothing had 
happened to me : then she said to me, '* Now go and 
labor for the salvation of souls and render thanks to the 
Omnipotent who hath delivered you from this danger. '' 
I returned to my habitual fatigues, gloryfying the Lord 
who had bestowed such power on his faithful Spouse. 

At the same epoch, Catharine worked a miracle on 
Friar Bartholomew of St. Dominic of Sienna, my friend, 
he who at present governs the Roman province, and this 
miracle was more remarkable, because this Religious had 
been long and greviously sick with the plague. 

When the contagion had passed to Sienna, many per- 
sons, but above all the sisters of a Convent of Pisa, hav- 
ing heard the praises of Catharine celebrated, evinced a 
lively desire of seeing her, and profiting by her instruc- 
tions. They, therefore, entreated her to repair to Pisa, 
promising, in order to attract her, that her presence would 
be profitable to many souls. Catharine did not like 
journies ; but she had recourse to her divine Spouse, and 
humbly deferred the case to his decision ; she had con- 
sulted the opininion of those who surrounded her, and 
their sentiments were divided ; some days after, our 
Lord appeared to her, and commanded her to yield to 
the requests of his servants, who were expecting her in 
the city of Pisa. '' My Name, '' said he, '' will be greatly 
glorified by this journey, and souls will derive much bene- 
fit, according to the promise that I made thee, when thy 
soul separated from thy body, and was united to it 
anew.'' 

Catharine obediently made known to me the divine 
will, and repaired directly to Pisa. I accompanied her, 
with several Fathers of my Order, so as to hear confes- 
sions ; many of those who visised her had their hearts 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES. 18T 

moved by her fervent words ; and Catharine, in order 
that the devil might not resume his conquests, ordered 
them to seek a Confessor, and ask directly the sacrament 
of penance. 

On our arrival at Pisa, Catharine was received hospita- 
bly at the house of an inhabitant named Girard Buon- 
conti. Her host one day brought a young man of 
twenty years, and presented him to her, requesting her 
to be so kind as to pray for the recovery of his health ; 
informing her that during eighteen months fevers had 
never left him, and although he had none at that moment, 
they had been so violent, that his health was completely 
ruined notwithstanding all the efforts of medical skill and 
science. And indeed his pale attenuated countenance 
was sufficient proof 

Catharine moved with pity, enquired of the youth how 
long a time had elapsed since he had been to confession. 
On his replying that several years had found him remiss 
in this duty : '' God," said she to him, *' sends you this 
affliction, because you have remained so long, without 
purifying your soul in the Sacrament of Penance ; go, 
therefore, my dear son, and confess ; cleanse your soul 
from the corruption of sin whch has empoisoned your 
body. ^' Then she sent for Friar Thomas, her first Con- 
fessor, and confided the sick youth to his care that he 
might hear his confession and give him absolution ; when 
this was terminated, the youth returned to Catharine who 
said to him, while putting her hand on his shoulders : 
*' Go, my son, with the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
it is my will that you should have this fever no more.'' 
And it happened as she willed. 

From that moment the young man had no more attacks 
of fever. In Catharine resided the power of Him of whom 



188 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

it is written : He spoke and it was done, commanded 
and creation sprung from chaos. Some days after the 
youth came and thanked her who had healed him, and he 
assured us that he had not been troubled with the slightest 
indisposition since that hour. 

I was witness to this, and can say like St. John : ** He 
who hath seen beareth testimony.'' There were also 
with me, Catharine's host, and Lapa, and also the 
immates of the house, also Friar Thomas, confessor of 
Catharine and of the patient, Friar Bartholomew of St. 
Dominic and all the devout women of Sienna, who had 
accompanied Catharine. The youth who had been 
restored to health, published the miracle throughout the 
city, and when I was passing through Pisa several years 
after, he visited me and it was with difficulty I recognised 
him, so robust and manly was he in health and bearing : 
he recounted in presence of those who accompanied me, 
what has occurred, and attributed the glory of it to 
God's faithful servant Catharine. 

A miracle similar to this, had taken place at Sienna ; 
only the illness was more dangerous. A Sister of 
Penance of St. Dominic named Gemmina, was much 
attached to Catharine : she had a quinsy, in consequence 
of a cold in the head which she had neglected, and her 
sickness made such rapid progress that the remedies 
employed i^roved inefficacious : the throat was so much 
inflamed that there was danger of suffocation. In this 
position, she made an extraordinary effort and went to 
Catharine, saying, as well as she could, as soon as she 
beheld her , * 'Mother, I shall die, unless you help me." 
Catharine had pity on the poor sister who could scarcely 
breathe ; in holy confidence, she applied her hand to the 
throat, made over it the sign of the Cross, and the 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES. 189 

pain disappeared immediately : she who had come in much 
pain and suffering, returned in perfect health, and with 
joy and gratitude, ran to Friar Thomas and related to 
him what had occurred j the latter took note of it, 
and from his manuscripts I extracted what I have 
just narrated. 

When the Sovereign Pontiff, Gregory XI., quitted his 
abode in Avignon to return to Rome, Catharine arrived 
at Genes, before him, and remained there to meet him. 
Two young persons from Sienna accompanied us ; 
they were very pious, and are still living. The first was 
called Neri de Landoccio of Pagliaresi: he despised the 
world and its vanities and sanctified himself in solitude ; 
the other was Etienne Corrade of Maconi : Catharine, 
when leaving this exile to soar to heaven, ordered him 
to enter the order of the Carthusians, and the grace of 
God so truly accompanied him, that he now directs a 
great portion of his Order, by his visits, teaching and 
example. He was successively placed at the head of 
several monasteries, and is now Prior of the Chartreuse 
of Milan. They were witnesses, as myself, of the greater 
number of miracles related in this second part ; but in the 
city of Genes the divine power was manifested in regard 
to themselves, by means of the blessed Catharine. 

Whilst we were there, Neri was taken with an acute 
pain, which caused him much suffering and inconvenienced 
us greatly ; he could neither walk nor yet be in bed ; he 
crawled about on his hands and knees in the apartment, 
where other persons slept, and this irritated his pains, 
instead of soothing them, and an inflammation ensued. 

Catharine having heard it, appeared to be moved to 
pity, and desired me to have physicians called and proper 
remedies given him : I obeyed promptly, inviting two 



190 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

medical advisers whose orders were faithfully accomplish- 
ed ; but the patient instead of obtaining relief, suffered 
more. I presume God permitted this, because he desired 
to display in an admirable manner, the power of his 
Spouse. The physicians perceiving their prescriptions 
useless, told me that they had no hope of saving him. 

When I gave this news to the religious and the com- 
panions who were at table with me, Etienne Maconi left 
his repast, with a melancholly heart, and hastened to Cath- 
arine's room. He threw himself at her feet, melting into 
tears, conjuring her not to suffer his companion and 
brother, during a journey undertaken for God and her, to 
die far from home and be buried in a strange land. 
Catharine, deeply affected, said to him with maternal ten- 
derness : ''Why, my son, do you suffer yourself to be 
troubled? If God wishes to recompense your brother 
Neri's labors, you ought not to be afflicted, but on the 
contrary, rejoice." But Etienne insisted, *' dearest, 
kindest mother, I conjure you, hear my petition help 
him ; I am perfectly convinced that you can, if you will." 
And Catharine, incapabls of concealing her tenderness, 
replied : ''I only exhorted you to conform to God's will ; 
but since I see you so sad, when I receive holy communion 
at to-morrow morning's Mass, remind me of your request 
and I promise to pray God for your intention — you must 
yourself pray that he may hear me." 

Etienne, quite joyous at having obtained this promise, 
failed not to present himself to Catharine just as she was 
going to Mass ; he kuelt humbly, and said to her : 
''Mother, I entreat you not to deceive my expectation." 
Catharine communicated at the Mass and as usual re- 
mained a long time in ecstasy. When she had resumed 
the use of her senses, she smiled on Etienne, who was 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES. 191 

waiting l)y her side, and said to him: ''You have 
obtained the grace that you asked. ^' Etienne said: 
''Mother, will Neri be cured ?" "Assuredly he will be 
saved," answered she, '' for God desires to restore him to 
us." Etienne hastened to impart his joyful hopes to the 
sick person. The physicians afterwards arrived, and 
having recommenced their observations, began to say 
that, although they had given him up, his symptoms de- 
monstrated that he might yet recover. In effect, accord- 
ing to Catharine's promise, convalescence commenced, 
and the recovery was soon complete. 

But Etienne Maconi, overcome by the fatigue and sor- 
row occasioned by Neri's illness, was attacked by a violent 
fever, attended with vomiting and violent pains in the 
head. He kept his bed, and as he was generally beloved, 
we assisted him, and sought to console him. When the 
blessed Catharine heard of his state she was much af- 
flicted ; she visited him, and interrogated him concerning 
his malady, and perceiving that he was suffering from a 
fever, she said in a tone of authority ; '' I command you 
in virtue of holy obedience to have this fever no longer." 
Wonderful to relate ! nature obeyed this order as if the 
the Creator of all things had pronounced it from high 
heaven ; without employing any remedy, and before 
Catharine left his bedside, Etienne was completely de- 
livered from his fever. We were all delighted to have 
our friend restored to us, and gave thanks to God for 
having so promptly manifested his power. 

To these two miracles I will add a third, of which I was 
not witness, being absent ; but she in whose favor it was 
performed, is yet living, and can testify to it. Jeanne 
de Capo, was a Sister of Penance of St. Dominic, and 
belonged to Sienna, but did not reside there. When the 



192 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

Sovereign Pontiff, Gregory XI. , had returned to Rome, 
he sent Catharine to Florence in order to establish peace 
and reconcile the common father of the faithful with his 
revolted children. Catharine succeeded as I will narrate 
in a special chapter ; but the infernal serpent who creates 
and entertains discord, because he is the enemy of unity, 
excited a sedition in the city against the Spouse of Christ, 
who was endeavoring to make peace. Her friends and 
those who accompanied her, advised her to withdraw for 
a time, and allow this tempest to pass. She, always 
humble and prudent, submitted to their views, but said 
that God had forbidden her to quit the neighborhood of 
the city, so long as peace and concord were not conclud- 
ed between the Sovereign Pontiff and the people of Flo- 
rence. 

Catharine was therefore making preparations to retire 
from the city : but it was discovered that Jane was in- 
disposed: one of her feet was very much swollen, and the 
pain in it, created a high fever, which prevented her from 
setting out. Catharine would not leave her alone, ex- 
posed to the ill-treatment of the impious, and she had 
recourse to prayer. She implored our Lord to con- 
descend to lend an ear to her necessities, and while she 
was praying a gentle slumber took possession of the sick 
woman, and when she awoke, she was perfectly cured, 
without feeling any effects of her illness. She arose, and 
when daylight dawned, she set out with the others ; her 
companions who had seen her suffering were in amaze- 
ment, and blessed God for his mercies, towards Cath- 
arine. 

To this miracle, I will add another which oceured at 
Toulon, in Provence. We stopped at an Inn of that 
City, at the time of the return of Gregory XI. to Rome ; 



EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES. 193 

Catharine withdrew as usual to her apartment ; we had 
not spoken of her, but the very stones appeared to an- 
nounce her arrival. First women, and then men, came to 
our residence and asked where was the Saint who returned 
from the Pontifical Court. The hostler having told them, 
it became impossible to hinder the crowd, and we were 
obliged to admit the women. One of them brought an 
infant whose body was so swollen that it excited pity in 
the beholders, and some persons present asked Catharine 
to be so obliging as to hold the infant a moment in her 
arms. Catharine, refused because she desired to shun 
the admiration of men ; but in fine, overcome by com- 
passion, she consented to what was demanded with such 
lively faith. Hardly was the babe placed in her virginal 
hands, than the swelling disappeared, and the little invalid 
was completely restored. I was not present, when this 
miracle was performed ; but it was so evident and so well 
certified, that the Bishop of the City sent for me, and 
when relating it, informed ma that the child was the 
nephew of his vicar : he requested me to obtain for him 
an interview with Catharine. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ produced many other miracu- 
lous cures, by the intervention of the blessed Catharine ; 
it would be impossible for me to recount them all in one 
book, but I have recounted some, which will suffice to 
prove how Jesus, the Son of God and of Mary, acted in 
her. The deliverance of those that were tormented with 
devils naturally refers to the healings of the body : but 
as this chapter is sufficiently lengthy, and as Catharine 
enjoyed a special grace for those unfortunate souls, I will 
treat this subject separately. 



17 



CHAPTER YIII. 

OF MIRACLES PERFORMED BY CATHARINE FOR DELIVERING SUCH AS 
WERE POSSESSED BY THE DEVIL. 

Our divine Lord continually exhibited exteriorly, the 
graces with which he interiorly adorned his Spouse. Fire 
cannot remain concealed, and a tree planted by the 
water courses, always bears its fruit in due season. The 
virtue of Jesus Christ, or rather Jesus Christ himself, 
dwelt in Catharine's heart, and displayed its presence 
there more and more each successive day, not only by 
obtaining for sinners the conversion of their souls, and 
for the sick health and corporal restoration, but in com- 
manding evil spirits, and chasing them from those whom 
they possessed ; and thus for the Name of Our Lord 
residing in her, every thing in heaven, on earth, and in 
hell bent the knee before her. 

There was in Sienna, a man named Ser. Michel de 
Monaldo, a very skillful notary, whom I have seen a 
hundred times, and from whom I received the following 
facts. Being advanced in years, he took the resolution 
with his wife's consent, to consecrate himself wholly to 
the service of God and to offer to him the virginity of 
his two daughters. He made application to a monastery 
established in the city, under the invocation of St. John 
the Baptist ; he confided his daughters to the religous 
Sisters who resided there, gave them his fortune, and 
lodged with his wife outside of the enclosure, and there 
directed the temporal affairs of the convent. This 



CASTING OUT EVIL SPIRITS. 195 

arrangement lasted a considerable time when by a just, 
but incomprehensible judgment of God, one of the 
daughters of Ser. Michel, called Laurencia, aged about 
eight years, became possessed by the devil ; the foe of 
salvation tormented her cruelly and troubled the peace of 
the entire monastery. The Nuns being unable to retain 
the child longer, obliged Ser. Michel to resume his charge. 
When she had retired from the Convent the devil ceased 
not to manifest his presence in an extraordinary manner. 
He spoke Latin by her mouth, although she had no idea of 
that tongue ; he answered the most difl&cult questions, and 
manifested the sins and the secrets of a great number of 
persons ; in fine, it was evident to every one that God 
permitted the devil, for a motive concealed from man, to 
torment this poor little innocent. 

Her parents were in the deepest distress and sought 
every method of relieving her ; they brought her to visit 
the relics of saints whose merits could put the devil to 
flight. They had above all confidence in the intercession 
of the blessed Ambrose of the Order of Preaching Friars, 
whom God has glorified during more than a century by 
a great number of miracles, and who is endued with a 
special power for chasing out malignant spirits ; his cope or 
his scapular which are still preserved, have often sufficed 
for delivering the possessed when clothed in them ; I have 
myself witnessed this effect on several occasions. The 
parents of little Laurencia led her to the church of the 
Preaching Friars, placed her on the tomb of Blessed 
Ambrose, covered her with his habit or sacerdotal orna- 
ments, and fervently implored God for her deliverance, but 
they were not heard ; this possession was undoubtedly not 
to punish the child who had not sinned, nor her parents who 
had always led an exemplary life ; but God I presume 



196 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

suffered it, in order to increase the honor of his faithful 
servant. The blessed Ambrose who already enjoyed 
beatitude, desired to leave the credit of the miracle to 
Catharine who was continuing her earthly pilgrimage, and 
thus make known her virtues to the faithful, even before 
her death : several of Catharine's acquaintances, advised 
the parents of Laurencia to present their child to her ; 
but when they attempted it, Catharine answered: '^ Alas ! 
I am myself daily tormented by the demons : how do you 
imagine that I can deliver others V^ And as she could 
not escape by the door, without meeting those who came, 
she hid herself so completely in the attic, that they could 
not find her. The parents retired, without having 
obtained anything ; but this proof of humility and this 
flight from human esteem, inspired them with greater 
confidence in her sanctity, and induced them to demand 
her assistance with greater ardor. 

As they could not procure access to her, because she 
forbade all her companions to speak to her of this affair, 
they had recourse to Friar Thomas, as her Confessor, to 
whom they knew Catharine was very submissive. They 
exposed their misfortune to him, and entreated him to 
oblige Catharine in the name of holy obedience to 
help them in their affliction. Friar Thomas felt an 
extreme compassion for their trouble, but he knew that his 
authority did not extend so far as to oblige Catharine to 
the performance of miracles, and as he feared to wound 
her humility, he made use of the following expedient: 
one evening while Catharine was absent, he conducted the 
little possessed into her oratory, and said to one of her 
companions who remained in the house: *'Tell Catha- 
rine, when she will return, that I command her in 
virtue of holy obedience, to allow that child to remain 



CASTING OUT EVIL SPIRITS. 19T 

here during the night, and to keep her until morning near 
herself." Catharine returned a short time after, and 
found little Laureneia in her room ; she recognised that 
she was possessed by the demon, and suspected that it 
was the child that she had refused to see : Having ques- 
tioned her companion and learned the order of her Confes- 
sor, she perceived that there was no means of escape ; 
she therefore had recourse to prayer, and forced the 
child to kneel and pray with her. The whole night was 
consumed in this combating the enemy by a holy vigil ; 
before daybreak, the demon, was, notwithstanding his 
resistance, overcome by the divine virtue, and the 
delivered child felt no ill. In the morning, as soon as 
Alessia, Catharine's companion, was informed of it, she 
told her Confessor that Laureneia was no longer possessed. 
Friar Thomas, with the parents, repaired directly to 
Catharine's house ; they found Laureneia completely 
cured, and with tears of joy, thanked God, and her 
whom he had deigned to use as his merciful instrument. 
They intended taking their daughter with them ; but 
Catharine knew by a divine light what was to happen 
and bade them : ''Leave the child there a few days, it 
being necessary to her salvation. " They accepted this 
proposition with eagerness and joyfully withdrew. Catha- 
rine profited by this time to give holy counsels to Lauren- 
eia ; she taught her by word and example to pray fre- 
quently and fervently, and prohibited her leaving the house, 
under any pretext, until her parents came for her. The 
child was docile, and showed herself day by day better 
disposed ; the house in which she was staying, was not 
Catharine's, but that of her companion Alessia, and it 
was not very remote. It happened that Catharine 
remained a whole dav at home with Alessia, having lefi 



198 UFE OF ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

Laurencia in charge with the domestic. After nightfall, 
Catharine suddenly called Alessia, and told her to pnt on 
her cloak and go with her at once to the child that had 
been entrusted to them ; the latter observed that it was 
unbecoming for females to go out at that hour ; but 
Catharine answered : ''Hasten, for the infernal wolf has 
caught the lamb that we have saved.'' She and Alessia 
set out without delay — and when they reached the house 
they found Laurencia furious, her countenance totally 
distorted and inflamed. *'Ah ! serpent'' exclaimed Catha- 
rine, *'thou hast dared to enter anew into that innocent 
child ; but I have faith in Jesus my Saviour and Spouse ; 
thou shalt make thy exit, no more to return." Pro- 
nouncing these words, she led the child into the place 
where the prayers had been offered, and after some 
instants, she brought her back perfectly delivered, and 
recommended her to take some repose. When morning 
arrived, she sent for the parents, and said : ''Now, you 
may take your child in all security ; she will not be tormen- 
ted in future.'' The prophecy has so far been accom- 
plished ; Laurencia returned to her monastery and has 
served God in it, in peace, for more than sixteen years. 

Being desirous of knowing more fully what had passed, 
I interrogated Catharine herself, and I asked her how 
the demon had been so audacious as to resist the power 
of relics and even exorcism : she answered that the 
obstinacy of the evil spirit was so great that she had 
been forced to dispute with him until four o'clock in the 
morning : she ordered him to come out in the Name of 
the Redeemer, and he obstinately refused, but after a 
prolonged contest, the demon perceiving himself on the 
point of being driven out, said : '' If I leave her, I will 
enter thy soul;" Catharine said : ''If God allow it; 



CASTING OUT EVIL SPIRITS. 199 

for I know that thou canst do naught without his per- 
mission, and I refrain from opposing his holy will in the 
least." 

Then the spirit of pride, overcome by this trait of 
sincere humility, lost his power over that child ; however 
he held her by the throat and provoked a swelling in it : 
Catharine raising her hand to the neck, made over it the 
blessed sign of Redemption, the devil then lost his grasp 
entirely. 

The following miracle will exhibit more clearly to what 
a degree the blessed Catharine had received from God 
the power of driving out Satan ; I was not present, for 
she had sent me to the Vicar of Jesus Christ, Pope 
Gregory XL, on affairs relative to the church; but 
brother ' Saint, ' the hermit whose cure I related above, 
Alessia and other accompanying friends are witnesses. 

Catharine had gone with the noble, and venerable lady 
Bianchina, widow of John Agnolino Salimbeni, to la 
Roche Castle, where I had passed several weeks with 
her : a woman near this castle was seized with the demon, 
who tormented her shockingly. When Lady Bianchina 
knew this, she, through compassion, wished that Catharine 
would succor the unhappy victim : but she knew her 
humility and her annoyance, when they spoke to her of 
such subjects. Having taken counsel from her com- 
panions, she had the possessed person brought into 
Catharine's presence, in order that the sight of her 
might inspire charity and excite her to deliver her. 
When they conducted her there, our blessed Catharine 
was laboring to reconcile two enemies who were at war, 
and she was disposing herself to go into the neighbor- 
hood to terminate the quarrel. As soon as she beheld 
the possessed woman, she comprehended that escape was 



200 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

inevitable, and expressed her sorrow to Lady Bianchina ; 
" May God forgive you, Lady, for what you have done ? 
Do you not know that I am often tormented by the devils ; 
how can you oblige me to expose myself to them, by 
leading before me a possessed individual ?'' then she 
turned towards the demoniac, saying: *^You cursed 
spirit, who are resolved to prevent this reconciliation, 
place your head here, and wait in that position until my 
return!'' 

At that order, the possessed woman with great docility 
placed her head as Catharine had commanded, and the 
Blessed Catharine went to terminate the work her charity 
had began. Satan cried out, by the mouth of the posses- 
sed : ''Why do you retain me here, let me go, I am too 
cruelly tormented. '' The persons present said : Why do 
you not leave the room, the door is open?" And the 
evil spirit said : ''I cannot; that woman has enchained 
me.'' When he was asked whom he meant, he either 
would not or could not name her ; he only said: '' my 
enemy. '^^ Brother Saint who supported the head of the 
possessed woman, asked him: ^'Is thy enemy very 
powerful?" He answered ''I have none greater in the 
whole world." When those present desired to prevent 
his screams, they tried to silence him by saying : '^ Be 
quiet, Catharine is coming. " The first time he rejoined : 
she is not coming yet, she is in such a place, and indica- 
ted the exact place where she actually was. On being 
asked what she was doing: he said, ''Something that 
displeases me sovereignly, and which she often does" — 
and with that saying, he shrieked still louder: "Why 
keep me here?" Still he never moved the head of the 
demoniac, from the position in which Catharine had com- 
manded it to be placed. After a few moments he said : 



CASTING OUT EVIL SPIrAs. 201 

" The one I hate, is returning here. '' They asked where 
she was ; he answered : *' she is no longer in that place ; 
she is in such a place/' then added ; '*nowsheis^/iere/' 
and indicated all the different localities through which 
Catharine passed ; at length he said, ^ * now she is on the 
threshold of the house;'' and it was correct. — When 
Catharine entered the room, he cried still more loudly : 
*'Why, do you keep me here?" *^Get up, wretch," 
said Catharine to him, *'go forth quickly, and leave in 
peace this creature of our Lord Jesus Christ, and never 
presume to torment her anew." 

At these words, the evil spirit forsook every portion of 
her body, except the throat which he caused to swell in a 
fearful manner. Catharine applied her virginal hand and 
making the sign of the Cross over it, chased the demon 
away completely. The woman was relieved in presence 
of all the spectators ; and being weak and overcome, by 
excess of suffering, Catharine sustained her sometime by 
allowing her to recline upon her breast and in her arms ; 
after ordering her some refreshing diet, they led her to 
her own house. When the poor invalid, who was deliv- 
ered, had opened her eyes after sleeping, she was aston- 
ished to perceive herself surrounded by so many persons, 
and in the house of her mistress ; and she inquired of her 
relatives, ''who carried her there, and when?" When 
they informed her that she had been tormented by the 
demon, she said that she had no remembrance of it, only 
she felt as though she had been beaten violently in every 
limb, and that her body felt universally bruised. She 
rendered humble thanks to her liberator, and went on 
foot to the house whence they had been forced to carry 
her on a litter. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ delivered several other possessed, 



202 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

in a miraculous manner, by Catharine's intercession. I 
did not recount these cures in this chapter, but those that 
I have cited suffice to give a clear view of the grace tho 
Blessed Catharine had received for casting out demons ; 
she obtained it by triumphing in herself over these mali- 
cious spirits, with God's help, in many a striking circum- 
stance. 



CHAPTER IX. 

OP Catharine's gift of prophecy, and in what manner she 

DELIVERED SEVERAL PERSONS FROM DANGER WHICH THREATENED 
THEIR SOULS AND BODIES. 

What I am about to offer may appear incredible ; but 
the infallible Truth is my witness, that such has been my 
experience, that there is nothing of all that has ever 
occurred to me, of which I am so certain. Catharine 
possessed a prophetical spirit so perfect and so constant, 
that nothing could escape her ; she knew whatever refer- 
red to herself or to those who approached her, or 
who sought her counsels for the benefit of their souls ; 
it was impossible for us to do anything good or ill 
in her absence, without her having at the very instant a 
knowledge of it ; we experienced it, so to speak, at each 
moment ; and what is more admirable, she often told us 
our inmost thoughts, as if they had been hers. 1 know 
that for myself, and I confess it before the whole church 
militant, she rebuked me for certain thoughts which were 
troubling me in the very moment, and that I was obsti- 
nately concealing from her. I am not ashamed to declare 
it for her glory. *' Why hide from me,'' said she to me, 
**what I bee more clearly than you think.'' And she 
directly gave me wholesome advice on that subject. This 
happened to me very often. He who knoweth all things 
is my witness. But let us enter into some details ; and 
for the sake of order, let us commence with things spiri- 
tual. 
There was in Sienna a knight, who to nobility of birth 

C203) 



204 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

added glorious exploits, and who had acquired in the neigh- 
borhood the title of '' My Lord Nicolas des Sarrasius.^^ 
After passing a great portion of his life in battles, he had 
returned to his domestic fireside, intending to administer 
his estate, and enjoy a fortune ; he made merry with his 
friends, and promised himself a long career. Eternal 
Goodness, who wills the death of none, inspired the 
knight's lady, and some pious relatives with a design of 
engaging him to go to confession and do penance for the 
sins committed in the lengthy wars, which had occupied 
the former portion of his life ; but he, all devoted to visi- 
ble things, derided these prudent counsels, and cared 
little for his eternal salvation. 

At this period, the blessed Catharine enlightened the 
city of Sienna by her virtues, and was particularly remar- 
kable by the conversion of sinners the most hardened, 
who were either completely converted, or at least renounced 
a portion of their evil customs. The individuals who 
were interesting themselves in the salvation of the knight, 
perceiving the futility of their efforts, requested him to 
hold a conversation with Catharine. ''What have I to 
do with that good woman ? Pray, what service could 
she render me ?'' His wife who was strongly attached to 
Catharine went to her and informed her how hardened 
was her husband, and entreated her to pray to God for 
his conversion. It happened one night that the blessed 
Catharine appeared in a dream to our chevalier, and 
warned him to listen to the good advice of his wife, if he 
would avoid eternal damnation. On awaking, he said 
to his lady: ''Last night, I saw in my dreams, that 
Catharine of whom you so often speak with me ; I should 
like to have an interview with her, and see if she really 
looks as she appeared to me." His wife overjoyed at 



HER GIFT OF PROPHECY. 205 

this news, hastened to Catharine, thanked her, and agreed 
upon the time in which her husband might converse with 
her. In fine, the knight conversed with Catharine, was 
perfectly converted, and promised to go as soon as possi- 
ble to confess his sins to Friar Thomas ; he was faithful 
to grace and fulfilled his promise. 

One morning after he had concluded, this man, whom 
I knew already, met me when I was returning from the 
city to my convent, and inquired of me where he would 
probably find Catharine at that time. I said : '^I pre- 
sume in our church." ''I pray you, " added he, ^'be so 
kind as to conduct me there, because it is necessary for 
me to speak with her.'' I cheerfully consented; and 
entering the church with him, I called one of Catharine's 
companions and charged her with the commission of 
the chevalier. Catharine arose from the place in which 
she was praying, and advancing to meet him, graciously 
and respectfully saluted him. The aged knight said to 
her with a profound inclination : *' Madame, I have done 
what you prescribed to me ; I confessed all my sins to 
Friar Thomas, who assigned me a penance, and I am re- 
solved to accomplish it, such as it is imposed on me." 
Catharine responded: ^'You have acted wisely for the 
salvation of your soul, now avoid all your former practices 
and combat as valiantly for Jesus Christ, as you have done 
for the world." She added : *' My Lord, have you con- 
fessed all that you did ?" And as he assured her that he 
was certain of having told all that came to his memory, 
she repeated to him : ''Examine well, whether you have 
omitted nothing ?"' 

He affirmed anew that he had confessed all that he 
recollected. Catharine took leave of him, and allowed 
him to remain alone a few moments, and then called him 

18 



206 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

by means of one of her companions, and said: ** Exa- 
mine your conscience I entreat you, and see whether you 
did not forget some sin.'^ And as he again affirmed that 
he had confessed all, she drew him aside, and recalled to 
his memory a greivous sin that he had secretly committed 
when in la Pouille. The soldier, much astonished, 
acknowledged that he had indeed committed that sin ; he 
went in search of his Confessor and completed his confes- 
sion. Afterwards he could not keep silence in regard to 
this miracle, and narrated its particulars to all those that 
wished to hear him, as though he would say like the Sa- 
maritan woman of old : ** Come and see this virgin who 
revealed to me my most secret offences ; is she not a saint 
and a prophetess. How do otherwise than recognize it, 
for the fault which she recalled to me, could be known to 
no one but myself From that hour, the brave knight 
obeyed Catharine, as a pupil obeys his master, and death 
soon manifested the necessity of this happy change. Ere 
that year had winged its flight, a painful illness concluded 
his days, and he rendered his soul to God in the best 
dispositions. 

There are several points worthy of remark in this 
event ; first, the apparition during sleep, the supernatural 
revelation of a sin, and then the salvation of a man, 
long habituated to offending. Let us, while blessing 
God for the use he made of Catharine's intercession, 
turn our attention to another species of revelation and 
a miraculous help obtained from heaven by her means. 

Before enjoying the privilege of a particular acquaint- 
ance with the blessed Catharine, I dwelt a long time in 
a fortified place, called Montepulciano, and I directed 
there during four years, a monastery of Nuns of my 
Order. During my sojourn in this place, where there 



HER GIFT OF PROPHECY. 20T 

was no convent of Preaching Friars, I had with me but 
one companion, and I found great pleasure in receiving 
the Religious men who came from the houses in the 
vicinity, especially those for whom I felt a stronger 
spiritual friendship. Friar Thomas, (Catharine ^s Con- 
fessor,) and Friar Georges Naddo, now professor of 
Theology, proposed coming to see me in the convent of 
Sienna, in order to exchange spiritual consolations. So 
as to return more promptly to Catharine, (who always 
required Friar Thomas,) the two Religious took horses 
that were lent them by persons of their acquaintance. 
Arrived at about six miles from the place where they 
intended going, they had the imprudence to halt and 
rest themselves : the people of the place were not thieves 
by profession, but when they saw travellers alone and 
without defence, they allured them apart, robbed them, 
and sometimes killed them, so that justice might not 
discover their crimes. 

Having observed these two Religious, unaccompanied 
and taking rest in an inn, they went before, to the num- 
ber of ten or twelve, and awaited in the winding paths 
of a solitary place. When the Religious passed by, 
they attacked them roughly with swords and lances, 
dragged them from their horses, robbed them completely, 
and conducted them with abusive treatment into the 
depth of the forest : there they held council, and the two 
Religious comprehended perfectly well that there was 
question of killing them, and concealing their corpses in 
order to destroy all trace of their criminal conduct. 

In the midst of such a pressing danger, Friar Thomas 
spared not entreaties, and promises of ^' saying nothing ;^^ 
but when he saw that all was useless, and that they were 
conducting them farther and farther into 'tj^e deep and 



208 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

entangled forest, he comprehended that God alone could 
succor them and began to pray. Knowing how ageeable 
his spiritual daughter was to God, he said interiorly : 
*' Catharine, meek and devoted servant of God, help 
us in this peril." Scarcely had he uttered these words 
in heart, than the Kobber nearest him, and the one too 
who appeared to be charged to kill him, said: *'Why 
should we kill these poor friars who never did us any 
injury ? it would be indeed an enormous crime ! let us 
suffer them to go, they are good hearted men, who will 
never betray us.'' All accepted this opinion so suddenly 
advanced, with such unanimity, that not only they allowed 
the Religious their lives, but even restored to them their 
garments, horses and all that they had stolen, except a 
little money, and suffered them to go at liberty : they 
arrived at my house on the same day and related these 
preceding circumstances. When Friar Thomas returned 
to Sienna he certified, as he wrote, and as he recounted 
to me, that at the same moment in which he had invoked 
her assistance, Catharine said to one of her nearest com- 
panions: ** My father Confessor is calling me, and I am 
aware that he is in great danger,'' and rising immediately 
she went to pray in her oratory. It cannot be doubted, 
that it was at that moment by the efficacy of her prayers, 
that a change so wonderful was produced in the disposi- 
tions of the robbers ; and she did not we may believe, 
desist from praying until they had restored to those 
Religious their liberty and their goods. It is evident 
that Catharine possessed the spirit of prophecy, for she 
knew at a distance of twenty-four miles, a mental prayer 
addressed to her, and was capable of granting so 
promptly and perfectly the help implored. 

How advantageous is it to be in the friendship of 



HER GIFT OP PROPHECY. 209 

persons who see like the angelic spirits, and who being 
clothed with power divine may aid us in every danger ; 
and if Catharine's prayers were so powerful while she was 
yet in this terrestial vale, what must be her influence now 
in Heaven. 

I here present another circumstance to which I was 
witness with Friar Pierre de Yelletri of my Order, actnal 
Penitentiary at St. John Lateran : it was a renewed proof 
of Catharine's gift of prophecy. At the moment in which 
the greater portion of the cities and of the lands which 
belonged to the See of Rome, had revolted against the 
Sovereign Pontiff, Gregory XI. (viz. in 1315), Catharine 
was at Pisa, whither I had accompanied her. When the 
news of the defection of Perouse reached us, I was 
distressed at beholding in Christians, neither the fear of 
God, nor love for his holy Church, since they despised 
the sentences of excommunication pronounced against them, 
and had the audacity to usurp the rights of the Spouse of 
Jesus Christ. I went therefore to Catharine, with Friar 
Pierre de Yelletri, my heart drenched in grief, and with 
tearful eyes announced to her this melancholy event. At 
first she mingled her sorrow with ours and deplored the 
loss of souls and the great scandals which afflicted the 
Church ; but after a little, perceiving that we were too 
much dejected, she said in order to calm us : "Be not in 
haste to shed tears ; you will have worse things to excite 
your lamentations ; what you now mourn is mere milk 
and honey to what will follow.'^ These words instead 
of administering comfort awakened a deeper grief, and I 
said to her: *' Mother, can we possibly witness greater 
misfortunes, than beholding Christians lose all love and 
respect for the Church of God, and fearless of her 
censures, separating from her union openly ? the next step 



210 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

will be to deny our Lord himself !'' Then she said to me ; 
**Now Laymen behave thus ; but ere long you will find 
that the clergy will also render themselves culpable.'^ 
And as, in great astonishment, I exclaimed, *' how dread- 
ful ! — will the clergy also rebel against the Sovereign 
Pontiff ?'' She continued ^'When the Holy Father will 
attempt to reform their morals, the ecclesiastics will offer 
the spectacle of a grievous scandal to the whole church ; 
they will ravage and divide it as though they were here- 
tics. '' These words overwhelmed me with emotion, and 
I asked '^ Mother will a new heresy arise ?" She answered : 
''It will not be an actual Heresy, but it will divide the 
Church with all Christendom ; hence arm yourself with 
patience, for you will be obliged to witness the misfor- 
tunes.'' 

I was silent and waited, because I fancied that she was 
disposed to disclose many other things to me : but not to 
increase my trouble she declined further predictions. I 
confess that I did not comprehend these correctly, at the 
moment, on account of the obscurity of my understanding : 
for I thought that all this would happen during the 
pontificate of the reigning Pope Gregory XL At his 
death I had nearly forgotten that prophecy, but when 
Urban YI. succeeded, and the Church was rent with 
schism I beheld the verification of what she predicted to 
me. Keproaching myself for the obtuseness of my intellect, 
I endeavored to hold another conversation with her on 
this subject, and God allowed me this privilege, when in 
obedience to the Order of the Supreme Pontiff, Catha- 
rine repaired to Rome, in the commencement of the 
Schism. I then reminded her of what she had said to 
me, several years previous : she had not forgotten it, and 
added : * ' I then told you that what was transpiring 



HER GIFTS OP PROPHECY. 211 

would prove but milk and honey ; I now declare to you 
that the present transactions, are children's sport in com- 
parison with what will take place in the neighboring 
territories.'' She thus designated Sicily, the Roman 
province, and the surrounding country ; heaven and 
earth can testify the accomplishment of that event. Queen 
Jeanne then reigned ; but after, who can describe the 
misfortunes which lowered on her and her kingdom, on 
her successor and on foreigners who entered her States. 
The ravages which desolated that unhappy country are 
universally known. It is evident to any one in posses- 
sion of reasoning faculties, that the Blessed Catharine 
was indued with the gift of prophecy in so high a degree 
that she read in the future, whatever of importance was 
destined to occur. 

But that it may not be said, as Achab formerly said of 
Micheas : (IV. Kings, xii. 8.) ''His prophecies always 
announce evil and not good." I will present you sweets 
after the bitter, drawing for you from the pure treasures 
of things past and future belonging to the Blessed Cath- 
arine. At Rome I requested her to inform me what 
would happen in the Church after all these miseries. — 
She replied. ** After these tribulations and trials will 
have passed, God will purify the holy Church by means 
unknown to men ; he will arouse the souls of elect from 
lukewarmness and the reform of Holy Church will be so 
beautiful, the renovation of her ministers so perfect, that 
the future prospect of all this rejoices my soul in God. I 
have often spoken to you of the wounds, and of the 
nudity of the Spouse of Christ: but then she will be 
radiant with beauty, sparkling with jewels and crowned 
with a diadem of Virtues ; the faithful will rejoice in 
the holiness of their pastors, and unbelievers attracted by 



212 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

the good odor of Jesus Christ, will return to the sheep- 
fold, and will surrender themselves to the Chief and 
Bishop of their souls. Give thanks to God for the 
great calm, that he will grant to the Church, after that 
tempest." She said no more ; and I who know that the 
Almighty is more prodigal of his kindness than of his 
rigors, I, have a firm hope that after the ills which are 
happening, the blessings foretold by the Blessed Catharine 
will arrive ; and that all the tribes of Israel shall know 
that she is truly a prophetess from God. 

As there is here questions of Catharine's prophecies, I 
think it the best place to confound the ignorance of those 
who presume to contest her sincerity, and spread shame- 
ful calumnies against her sanctity. To give a specious 
coloring to their falsehoods, they say that she predicted a 
general Crusade of Christians which she and her disciples 
were to follow into the Holy Land. She being dead 
many a year, as well as those who followed her, it is 
impossible that this pilgrimage should be accomplished, 
and they concluded thence that all her sayings were no 
prophecies, but discourses unworthy of attention. 

I acknowledge, first, that it is very true that Catharine 
always desired a Crusade, and that she acted with 
diligence in the hope of realizing this desire : it was, it 
may be said, the ruling motive of her journey to Avignon ; 
she intended engaging Pope Gregory to organize a holy 
War ; and I am witness that she did so ; because when 
she conversed with the Sovereign Pontiff on that subject, 
I acted as interpreter ; Gregory XI. expressed himself 
in Latin, and Catharine in the dialect of Tuscany. The 
Sovereign Pontiff said to her: ''First of all, peace must 
be established among Christians, and then we might 
organize a Crusade. '' Catharine replied to him : *'Holy 



HER GIFT OF PROPHECY. 213 

Father, there is no better means for re-establisiug peace 
among Christians, than the undertaking of a Crusade. 
All the turbulent soldiers who now entertain division 
among the faithful, will go cheerfully and combat in the 
holy cause ; very few will refuse to serve God in the 
profession which pleases them, and it will be a means for 
expiating their offences ; the fire will be thus extin- 
guished for want of fuel. You will thereby Holy Father, 
accomplish several excellent things at once ; you will 
bestow peace on such of the Christians as require it, and 
you will save great culprits by removing them. Should 
they gain important victories, you could act ,in consequence^ 
with Christian Princes ; if they yield, you will have 
procured salvation to their perishing souls ; and besides, 
many Saracens might be converted.'' These words show 
with what zeal the Blessed Catharine labored to organize 
this crusade. 

Now, I declare to these calumniators that I never heard 
Catharine indicate in any manner whatsoever that a Cru- 
sade would certainly take place ; I always found her on 
the contrary very reserved concerning it, never determin- 
ing an epoch, but resigning the whole to divine Provi- 
dence ; she expressed a hope that God would cast a look 
of mercy on his people and thus save many believers 
and unbelievers ; but none can truthfully advance that 
she ever fixed the period of that Crusade, and declared 
that she would follow it with her disciples : should any 
one appear to have thus understood her, they have con- 
ceived an incorrect interpretation of her words. 

The person who was the subject of the following 
prophecy, relates it daily to any one desirous of hearing 
it. There lived in Sienna, at the period of my acquain- 
tance with Catharine, a youth of noble birth, but at that 



214 LITE OP ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

time of vile and contemptible manners ; he was called 
then as now, Fran9ois Malevolti. He lost his parents at 
an early age, and the too great liberty he possessed led 
him into the most yicious practices. He espoused a 
youthful wife, and this union ought to have incited him 
to a reformation of life, but he could not resolve to break 
off his wretched customs. One of his companions who 
was a disciple of Catharine, took compassion on his soul, 
and invited him to go and hear the holy counsels of the 
''Blessed," and he succeeded in leading him there occa- 
sionally ; after which Francois would repent and moderate 
his disorders for a time, but without being able to forsake 
them totally. I have often seen him with us ; he relished 
Catharine's salutary lessons and admirable examples, and 
took pleasure in adopting them ; but he would return to 
his former habits, especially to gaming, of which he was 
passionately fond. 

Catharine, who often prayed for his salvation, said 
to him one day in the ardor of her zeal : ''You frequently 
come to visit me, and then like an untamed bird you 
return to your vices ; but fly away as much as you please, 
the moment will come when God will allow me to throw a 
noose around your neck, which will prohibit your future 
flight !" Francois and all present observed these words. 
Catharine died without seeing their accomplishment — 
poor Francois relapsed into his former faults ; but his 
faithful friend did more for him in heaven than her coun- 
sels could effect for him in earth. Francois first lost his 
wife, by an early death ; then his mother-in-law, and 
other individuals who presented obstacles to his salvation. 
He was thus led to consider his ways, and renounced the 
world to enter into the Order of the Olivetains. He per- 
severed therein, by God's grace and Catharine's merits; 



HER GIFT OF PROPHECr. 215 

he always attributes his conversion to her who had pre- 
dicted it, and continually tells the tale to every willing 
listener. 

To make a recapitulation here, of all that has reference 
to souls, I am about to relate a fact of which God rend- 
ered me the witness, but which is better appreciated by 
dom Bartholomew de Ravenne who was then, and is still, 
Prior of the Carthusians, in Gorgone Island, thirty miles 
from the port of Livourne. This Religious, who pos- 
sessed fervent piety joined to a consummate prudence, 
was greatly attached to Catharine, and extremely edified 
by her admirable instructions^; he often pressed her to 
come and pass a day in his island, that he might conduct 
his Brethren to her and let them profit by God's holy 
word, and he entreated me to support his petition. Cath- 
arine consented to it ; we made the voyage to the num- 
ber of about twenty persons. The night of our arrival, 
the Prior lodged the ** Blessed'' aud her companions 
about a mile from the monastery ; and the following 
morning he conducted all of his monks to Catharine and 
requested her to favor them with some words of edifica- 
tion. Catharine refused at first, excusing herself on the 
grounds of her incapacity, her ignorance, and her sex ; 
saying that it was meet that she should listen to God's 
servants, rather than speak in their presence. Overcome 
at last by the earnest prayers of the Father and of his 
spiritual sons, she began to speak, and said what the 
Holy Ghost inspired her in reference to the numerous 
temptations and illusions which Satan presents to solita- 
ries, and concerning the means of avoiding his wiles and 
of gaining a complete victory, and all this she did with 
so much method and distinctness, that I was filled with 
amazement, as indeed were all her audience. When she 



216 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

had terminated, the Prior turned towards me and said 
with admiration: *' Dear Brother Raymond, I confess 
these Religious, — and, consequently, know the defects of 
each. I assure you, that if this saintly female had heard 
as myself all their confessions, she could not have spoken 
in a more just and profitable manner ; she neglected none 
of their wants, and did not utter a useless word. It is 
evident that she possesses the gift of prophecy and that 
she speaks by the Holy Ghosf 

In fine, I will add, that I am positively certain in 
reference to my own case she predicted many things that 
I did not suspect, and of which I now see the full 
accomplishment : but I decline entering into further de- 
tails. I will restrict myself to what happened to others : 
she had announced the terrible chastisements that would 
befall some persecutors of the Catholic Church ; I say 
naught concerning them because of the wickedness of 
the people of our time, and to avoid exciting against 
her glorious name the venom of detractors. 



CHAPTER X. 

OF THE MIRACLES THAT OUR LORD PRODUCED BY MEANS OP CATHARINE 
ON THINGS INANIMATE. 

Supreme Justice wills that all things obey those who 
are perfectly obedient to God. Catharine obeyed her 
Creator faithfully, and all creatures in return fulfilled 
her commands. At the period in which our Saint lived in 
Sienna, and previous to my acquaintance with her, there 
was a young widow, Alessia by name, who indulged such 
an affection to Catharine that life was unpleasant when 
deprived of her society. She was anxious to be clothed 
with the holy livery which Catharine wore, and deserted 
her own house to occupy one near Catharine's, and thus 
be able to commune with her more frequently : hence 
our Blessed Catharine neglected somewhat the paternal 
roof, often tarrying with Alessia several days, and some- 
times weeks and entire months. One year grain was 
scarce ; many inhabitants had purchased wheat that was 
spoiled by humidity and it being impossible to find any 
other for any price, Alessia was forced to do the same. 
At the apppoach of harvest, before their provision of 
flour was exhausted, new and excellent grain was brought 
to the market : and hence Alessia intended throwing 
away the remains of the bad flour, and make bread of 
the new wheat just purchased, and mentioned her inten- 
tion to Catharine. The latter said, ''Why throw away 
what God has given for man's sustenance ? if you do not 
like to eat of that bread distribute it to the poor who 

^'^ C 217 ) 



218 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

have none.'' Alessia said that she scrupled giving them 
bread that was of such bad quality, and preferred giving 
them plentifully of that formed out of the good flour, to 
which Catharine replied: ''Prepare the water, and 
bring hither the flour that you intended throwing away ; 
I will myself make some loaves of it, to distribute to the 
poor of Jesus Christ." 

Catharine first kneaded the paste, and then formed 
from a small quantity of the bad flour, such a number of 
loaves, and with such promptitude, that Alessia and her 
domestic who were looking on, could not recover from 
their astonishment ; four or five times the amount of 
flour would have been requisite for making all the 
loaves which the blessed Catharine presented to Alessia, 
that the latter might arrange them on the boards ; and 
these loaves of bread had not the disagreeable odor of 
those that had been hitherto made from this flour. When 
the whole was used, Catharine sent the bread to the 
oven and caused it to be served at table. All who par- 
took of it not only found it free from bitterness or any 
unusual odor, but on the contrary declared they ''had 
never eaten any so pleasant." The affair was reported 
to Friar Thomas, Catharine's Confessor, who came with 
other learned Religious to examine these particulars ; 
those pious men were in admiration at the view of the 
multiplied quantity of the loaves and their quality so 
marvelously corrected. A third prodigy succeeded these 
two : Catharine caused the loaves to be distributed ; 
they were given copiously to the poor and to the Reli- 
gious : no other bread was consumed in the house, and 
yet a great quantity was ever in the Pantry. Thus the 
Lord, by the intervention of his handmaid, signalized 
his power in three ways, on the occasion of her loaves ; 



MIRACLES ON THINGS INANIMATE. 219 

first he corrected the corruption and bad odor of the 
flour ; then he increased the paste from which it was 
formed, and in fine he so multiplied the bread that it 
served for distribution during several weeks. Many pious 
persons kept portions of this bread through devotion, 
there are some still provided with it, although twenty 
years have elapsed since the occurence of this miracle. 

Catharine was yet living, when I became acquainted 
with the above prodigy, and as I felt anxious to know 
more perfectly what passed I interrogated her in private, 
concerning the details of this event, and she gave me the 
following answer ; ''I experienced an ardent wish to avoid 
throwing away what God had designed to bestow on us, 
together with an extreme conpassion for the poor ; I went 
therefore with fervor to the chest (or bin) containing the 
flour. My gentle Queen, the Blessed Virgin, appeared 
to me, accomanied by Saints and Angels, she ordered me 
to do what I projected and deigned in her affectionate 
kindness, to work with her royal hands in the kneading 
of the paste, and it was the virtue emanating from her 
sacred hands which so multiplied the loaves ; she presen- 
ted them to me as she finished each one, and I handed 
them to Alessia and her maid-servant. " I said therefore, 
'^Mother, I am no longer astonished that this bread tasted 
so delicious, being composed and moulded by the glorious 
hands of that great Queen in whose virginal womb the 
august Trinity condescended to make the bread that came 
down from heaven^ and which 'gives life^^ to the 
believer. '^ By thus assisting Catharine, the Mother of the 
Word designed to show us that she gave us by her inter- 
cession the spiritual bread of salvation ; just as she gave 
us a material and miraculous bread. It was God who 
had inspired us to call her Mother and truly she gave us 



220 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

birth amid sighings and sorrow, until she had formed 
Christ within us, and daily distributed to us the whole- 
some bread of her excellent instructions. 

Having spoken of this multiplication of bread, we will 
continue the same subject, recalling what happened in 
the latter period of her life. My witnesses are, two Sisters 
of Penance of St. Dominic, who are still living, and at 
present in Rome. The first is Lysa, whose name is 
familiar to the reader, the second is Jeanne de Capo who 
was also at Sienna. They acompanied Catharine, when 
Uraban VI. of happy memory, bade her come to the 
Eternal City. She lodged in the section of the column 
of Antonius, with a great number of her spiritual children. 
Her disciples had followed her, as it were, without her 
permission ; some to visit the holy places, others to ask 
some favor from the Sovereign Pontiff; but all more 
particularly to enjoy the attractions of her conversations, 
which were so profitable to souls ; and it must also be 
said that the Sovereign Pontiff caused several servants of 
God to go to Rome, in consequence of a request from 
Catharine, and she took pleasure in showing them 
hospitality. She possessed naught in the wide world 
having ''neither money nor purse," but begged for a 
support with her companions ; yet she would have 
received a hundred persons as easily as one alone, so 
confiding was her heart in God ; she knew that God's 
treasures were inexhaustible ; hence, at that epoch she 
had at least twenty-four persons with her and the number 
was at intervals considerably increased. Catharine 
established an admirable system in the house ; one of her 
associates was designated each week to provide for and 
survey the domestic arrangements, so that the others 
might be occupied with God and accomplish the pious 



MIRACLES ON THINGS INANIMATE. 221 

works and holy visits which had induced them to come to 
Rome. 

Jeanne de Capo, had her turn in fulfilling the functions 
of housekeeper. The bread consumed in the house was 
procured from the daily alms ; and Catharine had recom- 
mended to the person in charge, that each week she 
should give notice, one day in advance, when the bread 
would probably fail, in order that she might send other 
mendicant Religious, or go in quest of it herself. God 
permitted Jeanne to forget this recommendation on one 
occasion ; in the evening the bread was nearly all con- 
sumed ; she had not forewarned Catharine and had no 
means of procuring any. There was scarcely enough of 
bread for the repast of four persons. Jeanne acknow- 
ledged her negligence, and went pensive and mortified to 
confess her fault and her embarrassment to Catharine. The 
latter said to her; ''Sister, our Lord forgive you, for 
having reduced us to this position, notwithstanding the 
order I gave you. Now, the whole community are hun- 
gry for it is already quite late ; and where can bread be pro- 
cured for so many at so short a notice.'^ Jeanne lamented, 
confessing her fault, and saying that she had sinned 
through negligence and merited a penance. ''Warn 
the servants of God to take their places at the table,'' 
said Catharine. And when Jeanne observed that there 
was so little bread that, by dividing it, no one would have 
sufficient, Catharine answered : ' ' Tell them to commence 
with the little that is served, and wait until God provides 
for their necessities :" — and then, she went to prayer. 

Jeanne accomplished her orders, and apportioned 
among them all, the scanty supply of bread. The guests 
weakened and famished by the continual fasts which they 
observed (for the greater part,) found their shares very 

19* 



222 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

insignificant and thought they must quickly disappear ; 
but in vain they ate, they never saw the last piece, for 
some bread continually remained on the table, and in this 
there was nothing to excite surprise, since it was the will 
of Him who, with five loaves, satisfied five thousand men 
in the wilderness. 

Each one was astonished at herself and her neighbors, 
and all inquired in what manner Catharine was occupied ; 
it was answered in fervent prayer. The sixteen persons 
who were then present agreed in saying : Her prayer has 
called down bread from heaven ; we are all satisfied j the 
little that was served us, far from being diminished is in- 
stead increased. After the repast, such a quantity of 
bread remained on the table, that it sufficed to the Sisters 
in the house and others who afterwards partook of it 
plentifully ; and they were also able to give an abundant 
alms to the poor. Lysa and Jeanne, eye-witnesses of this 
marvel, recounted to me one similar to it, which God 
accomplished by means of Catharine, in the same house 
and in the same year, during the Lenten season, and in a 
week that Fran^oise, (a Sister Penitent of St. Dominic, 
and spiritual companion of Catharine on earth, and I 
trust now in the better land,) was housekeeper. 

I am unwilling also to pass in silence what happened 
to myself when Catharine had gone to the home of the 
blessed ; my witnesses are, all of the Friars who were at 
that moment in the convent of Sienna. — It is nearly five 
years ago ; I was in that city and at the earnest petition 
of Catharine's spiritual children, I had commenced 
writing her life : it occurred to me that the head of the 
Saint, which had been brought from Rome to Sienna, 
and which I had ornamented to the best of my ability, 
had not yet been publicly exposed and honored. I 



MIRACLES ON THINGS INANIMATE. 223 

thougM that a day might be selected, for a solemn re- 
ception of this precious relic in the convent, as though it 
had just arrived, and that the Religious might chant the 
Office of the day, as a particular one could not be allowed 
as long as the Sovereign Pontiff had not yet inscribed 
her in the catalogue of the Saints. The festival took place 
to the great satisfaction of the Religious and the citizens, 
but especially of those persons of whom she had been the 
spiritual directress. I invited her most faithful disciples 
to dine in the refectory and recommended the lay Bro- 
ther to give an extra attention to the serving of the 
repast. 

When the Office was concluded, and the moment for 
breakfast arrived, the Brother in charge of the Pantry 
came to the Prior and told him with a melancholy air, 
that there was not sufficient bread for the Brethren at the 
first table, and none at all for the twenty invited guests. 
On this information, the Prior determined to ascertain 
the real situation of affairs, and having verified it, he 
immediately sent the Friar steward with Friar Thomas 
(Catharine's first Confessor) to several friends of the 
Order, to bring the bread required ; but they delayed 
coming so long, that the Prior ordered the bread that was 
in the house to be taken to the strangers who were with me, 
and consequently very little bread remained in the 
Pantry ; and as the mendicants did not appear, he bade 
the Religious seat themselves at the table, and in the 
mean time begin their meal. Then, either in the pantry, 
or at table, or elsewhere, the bread was so multiplied by 
Catharine's intercession, that the whole Convent was 
abundantly supplied both at the first and the second 
tables, and they gathered up many remains ; fifty Reli- 
gious were nourished with what could scarcely have 



224 LIFE OF ST, CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

sufficed for five among them. When the mendicant 
Friars returned, it was announced that their collection 
would serve another time, because God had perfectly 
provided for the necessities of his servants. After the 
repast, I conversed with our invited friends ; I was talk- 
ing at length of the virtues of Saint Catharine, when the 
Prior with some other Religious arrived, and recounted 
to us the miracle that had just taken place : I conse- 
quently observed to my hearers: ''Our blessed mother 
would not deprive us on • her feast of a prodigy which 
she often effected during her sojourn on earth : and this 
is a new proof that she accepts our homage and is con- 
tinually with us : hence let us return thanks to God, and 
to her, for her maternal kindness.^' 

Besides the above wonders, God worked many miracles 
by his Spouse, — on flowers for example (for the Saint was 
very fond of this poetry of nature ;) on broken, or in- 
jured articles, and indeed on every grade of inanimate 
objects ; but I observe silence concerning them in order 
to avoid prolixity. I must however indulge myself in 
narrating a circumstance, testified by twenty persons, as 
well as myself, and well-known to the citizens of Pisa in 
general. In 1315, Catharine and her suite lodged at the 
house of Gherard Buonconti — and during her sojourn 
there her continual ecstasies so enfeebled her body that 
we thought her at the point of death. I dreaded losing 
her, and reflected upon what means I could adopt for 
reviving her ; she held meat, eggs and wine in abhorrence, 
and for a stronger reason she would certainly decline any 
kind of cordials. I asked her to suffer them to put a 
little sugar in the cold water that she was taking ; she 
directly answered : ' ' Would you extinguish my feeble 



MIRACLES ON THINGS INANIMATE. 225 

remains of vigor and life : whatever is sweet is poison to 
me.'' 

Gherard and myself sought with anxiety some remedy 
against her swoons : 1 remembered having seen in similar 
cases the temples and wrists of the invalid bathed in the 
wine of Vernaceia and a sensible relief thus afforded. I 
proposed to Gherard the administering the exterior 
remedy, as we could do nothing for the interior. He in- 
formed me that he had a neighbor who was supplied with 
a cask of this kind of wine, and that he could easily send 
and procure some of it. The individual sent on this 
commission, described the fainting fits of Catharine, and 
asked in Gherard's name a bottle of the desired wine. 
The neighber, whose name I forget, answered ; ^' Friend 
I would willingly give Gherard the whole cask ; but it 
has been completely empty during the last three months ; 
I am sorry for it, but to be very sure, come with me and 
see.'' He then conducted him to the wine-cellar — the 
messenger saw only exteriorly that the hogshead was 
empty, yet the proprietor to give a greater certitude drew 
the wooden peg which served for drawing off the wine ; 
when immediately an excellent wine of Yernaccia came 
forth in abundance and moistened the surrounding earth. 
The astonishment of the owner was at its height, he 
closed the opening, called all the inmates of his house, 
and asked whether any one had put new wine into the cask. 
All declared that there had been no wine in it during the 
last three months, and it was impossible for any one to 
have poured any into it. The news was spread in the 
environs and everybody saw the miracle. The messenger 
overjoyed and filled with wonder, brought back a bottle 
of the marvellous wine, and recounted to us what had 
transpired. Catharine's numerous spiritual children re- 



226 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

joiced in the Lord, and gave thanks to the Spouse of 
virgins for this miracle. 

A few days after, Catharine, being re-established, went 
to visit the Apostolical JS'uncio just arrived at Pisa ; the 
whole city was in commotion ; all the mechanics left their 
w^orkshops to go out and meet her. Behold ! said they, 
one who does not drink wine, and who has yet filled an 
empty Cask with miraculous wine. As soon as Catha- 
rine became aware of this general movement, she poured 
oat her tears and prayers before God. She thus com- 
plained to him interiorly : ''Lord why wilt thou afflict 
the heart of thy lowly servant, and render her the sport 
of everybody ? All of thy servants can live in peace 
among men, except me ! Who did solicit this wine from 
thy bounty ? For many long years, by an effect of thy 
inspiration, I deprive myself of wine, and now behold 
wine covers me with ridicule. In the name of all thy 
mercies, I conjure thee to dry up, as quickly as possible, 
this wine, and in such a manner as to destroy this report 
and unbecoming excitement.'^ God seemed incapable of 
supporting her trouble longer, and produced a second 
miracle, greater in my opinion than the first. The 
hogshead was filled with superior wine, and many of the 
inhabitants procured quantities from it through devotion, 
and yet its contents had not diminished, but on a sudden 
the wine changed into a thick sediment, and what had 
been lately so delightful and exhilerating, became disgust- 
ing dregs similar to mud, and utterly unfit for drinking. 
In consequence, the master of the cellar and those who 
went to obtain wine, were forced to be silent, being 
ashamed to relate any more the circumstance that had 
excited their boasting. Catharine's disciples were also 
contradicted by this change, but she appeared quite gay 



MIRACLES ON THINGS INANIMATE. 22 T 

and happy at the event, and thanked her divine Spouse 
who had delivered her from the attentions of men. 

In the former miracle, our Lord showed how very 
agreeable Catharine was in his sight, and in the latter, 
how profoundly submissive she was towards Him ; in the 
former appeared the grace which adorns her ; in the lat- 
ter her wisdom ; for where humility dwells there also is 
wisdom found : for this reason, St. Gregory, in his first 
book of Dialogues, esteems wisdom above prodigies and 
miracles. It is clear that the virtue of humility, without 
which there is no prudence, was the cause of the second 
miracle, and rendered it more admirable than the first ; 
but the carnal heart cannot comprehend these things, and 
it is not astonishing, because the prudence of the flesh is 
not and can never be submissive to God. (Rom. viii. 1.) 



CHAPTER XI. 

OP CATHARINE S FREQUENT COMMUNIONS, AND OF THE MIRACLES 
PRODUCED BY ALMIGHTY GOD FOR HER, RELATIVE TO THE HOLY 
EUCHARIST AND THE RELICS OF THE SAINTS, 

Dear reader, God knows I would willingly conclude 
this biography, particularly on account of the numerous 
occupations which press me on every side ; but when I 
meditate on Catharine's life, so many wonderful circum- 
stances present themselves to my mind, that I am consci- 
entuously obliged to add daily new facts, and extend this 
volume beyond the limits that I primarily prescribed 
to it. It is well known to all who were acquainted with 
Catharine what profound respect and devotion she enter- 
tained for the Body of our Lord in the Blessed Eucharist. 
It was publicly rumored that Catharine communicated 
every day, and that she could live without taking any 
other nourishment. T/ia^, was not perfectly exact ; but 
those who said so, piously believed it, and glorified God 
who is always wonderful in his Saints. Catharine did 
not receive holy communion daily, but very often ; and 
some haughty persons, more heathenish than Christian, 
murmured at these frequent communions. In conse- 
quence I defended the ^'Blessed,'' and they found naught 
to reply to the arguments that I offered, because they 
were all drawn from the lives and writings of the Saints, 
and from the tenets of the Church. 

It was proved in the work of St. Dennis on th-» 
ecclesiastical Hierarchy, that in the primative church, 
when the fervor of the Holy Ghost abounded, the faith- 



HER FREQUENT COMMUNIONS. 229 

ful of both sexes approached daily to the Holy Sacra- 
ment of the Altar ; this appears to be the meaning of 
St. Luke, when in the Acts of the Apostles he speaks 
of the breaking bread ; and once he adds ''cum exulta- 
tione^^ with gladness (Act. ii. 46.) which can only be 
applied to the Eucharistic food. In the fourth petition 
of the Lord^s Prayer^ in which we solicit our daily 
bread, this is explained of the holy Communion, and 
such interpretation, far from being rejected, ought to be 
accepted with love, as a token of the daily Communion 
of the faithful. Our Holy Mother, the Church, has in 
the Canon of the Mass, a prayer for those who commu- 
nicate with the priest, and it is not without reason that 
she says : Supplices te rogamus, omnipotens Deus, 
jube hcec perferri per manus sancti angeli. *'And 
we humbly implore thee. Almighty God, grant that this 
Host be borne by the hands of the holy angels." And 
she adds : Ut quot quot ex hac altaris participatione 
sacro sanctum Filii tui corpus et sanguinem sumpseri- 
mus, etc. ' ' So that, by this participation in the altar, 
we may receive the body and blood of thy divine Son.'' 
Hence all the holy Fathers teach that the faithful who 
have not the conscience defiled with mortal sin, and who 
feel a devotion not only can, but also do right to ap- 
proach this Sacrament, which is so profitable to their 
salvation. Who, therefore, would presume to interdict a 
person of holy and irreproachable life, the means of 
making rapid progress in perfection ? I have no hesita- 
tion in saying that a refusal to a person who humbly 
asks, the sacrament commemorative of the Passion of 
our Lord, would be doing her a considerable injury, for 
this is to the privileged the viaticum of her pilgrimage. 
After all that I have here advanced, there still exist 



230 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

persons who will insist that it is not permitted to any 
among the faithful, whatever be their degree of tendency 
to perfection, to receive the Holy Eucharist so frequently : 
some even, (not understanding well,) will say that it 
must be received but once in the year ; but I rely more 
on the testimony of the sacred Writings than on all their 
reasonings. 

As a support to their ridiculous opinions, some of 
those haughty spirits, who are destitute of devotion, and 
of intelligence of the Holy Scriptures, cite a passage 
from St. Augustine, wherein he says, that he neither 
blames nor praises those who communicate daily. That 
great Doctor intended saying that daily communion is 
good ; but, that it may sometimes be dangerous : he 
leaves its appreciation to the judgment of the Omniscient 
God, and refrains from giving any decision on this point. 
If that, splendid genius, that prince among Doctors, is 
so reserved, I am at a loss to comprehend how those who 
quote him can resolve the question with so much assu- 
rance. I remember Catharine^s response to a Bishop 
who alleged the authority of Saint Augustine, against 
frequent Communion. **If, '' said she, ''Saint Augus- 
tine does not censure it, why my Lord, will you censure 
it ? By thus quoting him, your Lordship places your- 
self in opposition with him.'' 

The great Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, examines the 
utility of the faithful communicating frequently and 
daily, and thus replies : frequent communion increases 
the devotion of him who receives it, but it sometimes 
lessens respect. Hence, every Christian should cultivate 
and possess the devotion and respect due to this greatest 
of the Sacraments ; and when he perceives that fre- 
quent communion diminishes that respect, he should in 



HER FREQUENT COMMUNIONS. 231 

order to renew and increase it, abstain sometimes ; but 
if he perceives that his respect, far from diminishing, in- 
creases, he should receive the Eucharist often, because a 
soul well-disposed necessarily acquires great graces by the 
reception of that admirable and efficacious Sacrament. 
This is the opinion of the angelical Doctor, whose doc- 
trine Catharine followed in every respect. She communi- 
cated often, and sometimes denied herself the consolation, 
although she always desired to be united to her divine 
Spouse in the adorable Eucharist. Her burning charity 
unceasingly inclined her towards Him whom she had 
seen really, and whom she loved with all her heart and 
will. 

Such was the vivacity of her desires, that on the days 
in which she was deprived of holy communion, her body 
suffered in the same manner as one that had long under- 
gone a violent malady : she frequently endured interior 
troubles which re-acted exteriorly : and she owed this to 
some unenlightened Religious who directed her, as to 
the Superior of the Sisters of Penance, and sometimes 
to persons for whom she entertained the warmest attach- 
ment. This was one of her reasons for finding greater 
consolation in my ministry than in that of my predeces- 
sors. I used every possible effort to obtain the 
consolation she so much desired — she was conscious of 
this, and when she sighed for the Bread of Angels, she 
used to say to me : *' Father, I am hungry ; for the love of 
God feed my soul:'' Therefore the Sovereign Pontiff, 
Gregory XL by a special Bull gave her a permission to 
have a Priest and a portable Altar, so that, she could 
every where and always, without any permission, hear 
Mass and receive holy Communion. 

After these explanations , I purpose narrating a miracle 



232 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

of which I was sole witness ; when in my ministry at the 
Altar, (unworthy though I was of that dignity;) I 
presume that Almighty God intended glorifying his Name 
in my presence, and gave me to understand how agree- 
able the fidelity of his hand-maid w^as in his sight. I 
confess that I prefer not relating the fact, but in con- 
science I cannot remain silent, because there is question 
of God's honor and that of blessed Catharine. 

After our return from Avignon to Sienna , we visited 
in the environs of the city, some servants of God, in 
order to console ourselves together in the Lord. We 
came back on the festival of St. John the Evangelist, and 
when we arrived at Catharine's, the hour of Tierce had 
already passed. She turned towards me and said: ''O 
father, did you but know how hungry my poor sod is. " 
I understood her meaning, and rejoined : the hour of 
saying Mass is nearly elapsed, and I am so fatigued that 
it is very difficult for me to prepare myself for it. She 
remained silent a moment ; but soon, unable to restrain 
the expression of her desire she said to me again : '* I am 
famished. " I then consented to yield to her request , and 
repaired to the chapel in her house , which had been per- 
mitted her by the Holy Father ; I confessed her ; I 
clothed myself in my sacerdotal vestments, and celebrated 
the Mass of the day ; I consecrated one small Host for her, 
and when I had communicated, I turned to give her the 
ordinary absolution. Her countenance was angelic and 
beaming with light ; so changed was she, that I hesitated 
in recognizing her, and I said interiorly : ^' Is the Lord 
truly thy faithful and beloved Spouse ? " and on turning 
again to the Altar, I added mentally: *'come Lord to 
thy Spouse. " At the same instant the sacred Host, before 
I touched it, moved y and came at more than three fingers 



HER FREQUENT COMMUNIONS. 233 

distance to the paten, which I was holding in my hand, I 
was so much occupied with the light that I had seen 
beaming from Catharine's countenance, and of the motion 
of the consecrated Host, w^hich I distinctly saw, that I do 
not perfectly remember whether it placed itself alone on 
the paten, or whether I laid it there ; I dare not affirm 
it, but I think it deposited itself thereon. 

God is my witness that I tell the truth ; but should 
any one be unwilling to credit my assertion, because of 
my defects and the imperfect life he observes in me, let 
him remember that the bounty of the Saviour assists men, 
and even animals destitute of reason; (P. xxxv. t.) and 
that God's secrets are revealed not alone to the great, but 
to the insignificant ; let them also recal the portion of 
inspired Truth, Non enim veni vocare justos, sed 
peccatores. (Matt. ix. 13.) *' I came not to call the just, 
but sinners to repentance." As to such as despise sinners, 
inspiration again says : Euntes autem discite quid est : 
miser ic or diam volo et non sacrificium. ^' Learn that I 
desire mercy and not sacrifice." I limit myself to the 
defence that belongs to sinners ; let the just and God's 
servants pardon me, as I am sure they will, for the 
servants of God are full of mercy. If others judge me, 
their judgment is naught ; if I am firm, or if I fall, God 
alone is my Judge : he sees when I pause, and when I go 
forward ; he is my master and he knows that I declare 
the truth. I cannot suppose that I was deluded by 
Satan, in the midst of so august a sacrifice ; I am positive 
that I beheld the Sacred Host, without the least exterior 
agency, move and advance towards me, at the moment in 
which I was saying interiorly: ''Come Lord to thy 
Spouse. " Let those who believe, praise the Lord; as 

20* 



234 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

to others, I am sure that the day will come in which they 
will discern their error. 

I began by describing what occurred to myself alone ; I 
will now relate a prodigy, which I think not less worthy 
of attention : those who confide in my words, will discover 
how agreeable it was to the Saviour to find our '' Blessed '' 
so ardently desiring to receive him in the divine Eucharist. 
If my memory does not deceive, this circumstance is 
antecedent to the one that I have just recounted ; but the 
date is not so essential as a truthful relation of it . 

By order of my Superiors, I was in Sienna, and fulfilled 
the charge of Lector, when I was acquainted with St. 
Catharine, and I exerted my best efforts to procure her 
the privilege of receiving the Holy Communion : conse- 
quently when she desired to approach the Holy Table, she 
addressed herself more confidently to me than to other 
Religious belonging to the Monastery. One morning she 
experienced an ardent desire of Holy Communion, although 
her pain in the side and other sufferings were more than 
usually oppressive ; but this obstacle only stimulated her 
desire ; and as she hoped that her pains would subside a 
little, she sent one of her companions to me as I entered 
the church to say Mass, requesting me to defer the Holy 
Sacrifice a short time, as she experienced an invincible 
desire of receiving Holy Communion. I cheerfully 
consented, went to the Choir, and after reciting my Office 
continued to wait. Catharine had entered the church 
without my knowledge, at the hour of Tierce, hoping to 
satisfy her pious desire : but her associates seeing the 
lateness of the hour, and knowing that after Communion 
she would remain several hours in ecstasy, and cause 
murmurs at leaving the church open, engaged her to 
deprive herself of Communion for that day . She^ ever 



HER FREQUENT COMMUNIONS. 235 

humble and discreet, did not presume to contradict them, 
but took refuge in prayer : she knelt beside a bench 
placed at the very extremity of the Church, and entreated her 
Divine Spouse, since men could not accomplish it, to deign 
himself to satisfy the holy desires that he had condesended 
to exite in her heart. Almighty God who never despises 
the desires of his servants, heard the prayer of his Spouse 
in a wonderful manner. I was ignorant of these occur- 
rences, and believed that Catharine was at home, — when it 
had been decided that she should not Communicate one of 
her Sisters came to the place where I was still waiting, 
and told me that Catharine begged me to say Mass when- 
ever it was convenient to me, because she could not 
receive on that day. 

I went without delay to vest in the Sacristy, and offer- 
ed Mass at an Altar in the upper end of the Church, and 
which is dedicated to Saint Paul. Catharine was there- 
fore remote from me the whole length of the edifice, and 
I was completely ignorant of her presence. After the 
consecration and the Pater Noster, I intended, in accor- 
dance with the sacred rites, to divide the Host. At the first 
fraction, the Host instead of separating in two divided into 
three portions, two larger and one small, which it seemed to 
me was as long as a common bean, but not so wide. This 
particle, whilst I was attentively looking at it, appeared 
to me to fall on the corporal, by the side of the chalice 
above which I made the fraction ; I saw it clearly descend 
towards the Altar ; but I could not distinguish it on the 
corporal. 

Presuming that the whiteness of the corporal hindered 
me from discerning this particle, I broke another, and 
after saying Agnus Deiy I consumed the sacred Host. 
As soon as my right hand was at liberty, I used it to seek 



236 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

on the corporal, beside the chalice at the side on which it 
seemed to me the particle fell ; but I found nothing. Ex- 
tremely troubled at the circumstance, I continued the 
ceremonies of the Mass, and after having finished the 
Communion, I renewed my search by examining the cor- 
poral in every way ; but neither sight nor touch could 
discover anything. I was so much afflicted that I wept ; 
I determined to conclude the Mass on account of the persons 
present and afterwards carefully visit the Altar. In effect 
when all had withdrawn, I examined minutely not alone the 
corporal, but every portion of the Altar — I could discover 
nothing. As I stood before a large picture, I could not 
believe that the particle had fallen behind the Altar, al- 
though I perceived it taking that direction when it escaped 
from my hands. For greater certainty, I searched on 
the two sides and even looked on the floor ; but always 
with the same result. Then I thought of going to take 
counsel from the Convent Prior. I carefully covered the 
Altar, and recommended the Sacristan not to allow any 
one to approach until my return. 

I retired to the Sacristy ; but scarcely had I laid aside 
my vestments, than Father Christopher, Prior of the 
Carthusians, arrived. I knew him well, and felt a deep 
affection for him ; his object in visiting me was to obtain, 
through my influence, an interview with Catharine. I 
asked him to please to wait a short time, because I was 
obliged to go and speak with the Prior ; but he replied ; 
"This is a day of solemn fasting, and I must absolutely 
return immediately to the Monastery ; you know that it is 
very remote from the city — in the name of God do not keep 
me waiting, for in conscience I am obliged to speak with 
Catharine.'^ I bade the Sacristan remain and guard the 
Altar, until my return, and I went with the Religious as 



HER FREQUENT COMMUNIONS. 23 Y 

far as Catharine's residence, where they told me she was 
at the Friars' Church. I was greatly astonished — I 
turned back with my companion, and in effect, found 
Catharine, with her associates, in the lower part of the 
Church. I enquired of them where she was ; they answered 
that she was kneeling on one of the benches in an ecstasy ; 
and as I was still annoyed at the accident that had oc- 
curred to me, I besought them to use every means of mak- 
ing her return to herself, because we were in great haste. 
They obeyed, and when we were seated with the Prior, 
I told him in a low voice and in a few words, my anxiety ; 
she smiled gently and said to me, just as though she knew 
all the particulars ; *' Did you not search diligently ?" on 
my answering, "yes;^^ she added, ^'why^ then, should 
you be troubled so much;" and again she could not 
avoid smiling. I observed it, and kept silence, during 
her conversation with the Prior, who went away as soon 
as he had obtained the desired response. I was already 
more tranquillized, and said : ''Mother, I really believe 
that you took the particle of my consecrated Host." 
She meekly answered: ''Do not accuse me of that, 
Father, it was not I, but another ; I can merely inform 
you that you will not find that particle again." Then I 
obliged her to explain. "Father," said she, "be no 
wise troubled in reference to that particle ; I will tell you 
the truth as to my Confessor and my spiritual father ; 
that particle was brought me, and presented for my 
reception by our Lord Jesus Christ himself. My compa- 
nions engaged me not to communicate this morning, in 
order to avoid certain murmurs. I was unwilling to be 
troublesome to them, but I had recourse to my divine 
Spouse : he condescendingly appeared to me and gave 
me, with his sacred hands, that particle which you had 



238 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

coDseerated — I received it from his own sacred hands. 
Kejoice, therefore, in him ; because I have this day from 
him a grace for which I can never sufficiently thank my 
Saviour!" This explanation changed my sadness into 
joy ; and I was so encouraged by these words, that I no 
longer experienced the slightest anxiety.'' 

I relate these miracles in order that God and man may 
not charge me with ingratitude and negligence. We 
will now pass to other wonders which have been narrated 
to me by other witnesses. 

Several individuals, worthy of credit, assured me that 
when they assisted at the Mass at which Catharine re- 
ceived holy communion, they saw distinctly the sacred 
Host escaping from the hands of the priest and flying to 
her mouth ; they told me that this prodigy happened even 
when I gave her the sacred Host ; I own that I never re- 
marked it very clearly, only I always perceived a certain 
trembling in the consecrated host, when I presented it to 
her lips : it entered her mouth like a little stone thrown 
from a distance with force. Friar Bartholomew of St. 
Dominic, professor of Sacred Scripture {Ecriture Sainte) 
and now Prior Provincial of my Order for the Roman 
province, told me also, that when he gave Catharine the 
holy Communion he felt the Sacred Host escaping not- 
withstanding his efforts to hold it. I dare neither affirm 
nor deny it, and I leave it to the reader's piety to decide 
what he should believe. 

I conclude this recital of miracles which refer to the 
Holy Eucharist, to say a word of those which refer to the 
relics of the Saints. 

It was revealed to Catharine, that in the kingdom of 
heaven, she would enjoy the same rank as the blessed Sis- 
ter Agnes of Montepulciano, and that she would enjoy 



HER FREQUENT COMMUNIONS. 239 

with her celestial bliss ; hence she ardently desired to 
visit her relics, in order to enjoy even in this life, a fore- 
taste of the happiness of being her companion in eternity. 
But that the reader may know who Sister Agnes of 
Montepulciauo was, and that he may comprehend the pro- 
digies I purpose relating, I must inform him that by order 
of my superiors, I was during more than three years, direc- 
tor of the monastery in which reposes the body of that holy 
Virgin. From the manuscripts that I have found there, 
and the relation of four sisters who had been under her 
direction and who are still living, I found materials for 
writing her history, and I intend recapitulating in a few 
words that work of my early youth, to give an idea of 
the virtues and the sanctity of the Blessed Agnes, who 
has not yet been inscribed in the catalogue of the Saints. 
Divine Goodness had so anticipated her with benedictions 
that at the moment of her entrance into the world, a 
great supernatural light filled her mother's house, and 
did not cease until after her birth, to notify with how 
many merits God had adorned the little girl that just en- 
tered life. Indeed each successive year of her existence 
adorned her with virtues always greater and more beautiful ; 
she founded two convents of Nuns, and in the second 
where she reposes, she performed during her life-time, 
numerous and brilliant miracles which she multiplied 
and surpassed after her death. 

Among these prodigies, there is one ever subsisting : 
her virginal body has never been interred, and is mira- 
culously and entirely preserved. It was intended to 
embalm her body on account of the admirable deeds she 
had accomplished during her life, but from the extremi- 
ties of her feet and hands, a precious liquor issued drop 
by drop and the Convent sisterhood collected it in a vase 



240 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

of crystal and still preserve it : this liquor is similar to 
balm in color, but it is without doubt more precious. 
God designed thereby to show that her pure flesh that 
distilled the balm of Grace had no need of earthly em- 
balmment. At the moment of her decease which took 
place during the night, little infants reposing in their 
cradles cried out to their parents ; *^ Sister Agnes is 
leaving her body and becoming a Saint in heaven.'' In 
the morning, a great number of young girls assembled 
under an inspiration from God, unwilling to admit any 
married woman among them ; they went procession ally 
and bearing lighted tapers, to the monastery, to offer 
that pure soul, a homage worthy of her merits. God 
manifested the sanctity of his servant by a multitude of 
other prodigies ; hence all the inhabitants of the country 
honored her memory every successive year, and offer her 
through devotion a considerable quantity of wax candles. 
Catharine to whom I had narrated these circumstances, 
had the greatest desire to behold and venerate the body 
of Blessed Agnes ; but always obedient, she asked per- 
mission of me and of her other Confessor : we granted it 
and intended following her, to see whether God would 
not perform some miracle at the approximation of his 
two chosen Spouses. We arrived after Catharine ; she 
had entered the cloister and approached the body of St. 
Agnes, with almost all the nuns of the Convent and the 
Sisters of Penance of St. Dominic who had accompanied 
her : she knelt at her feet and prostrated to embrace 
them piously ; but the holy body that she intended honor- 
ing, unwilling that she should stoop to kiss it, raised 
its foot, in presence of the whole assembly. At this sight, 
Catharine much troubled, prostrated profoundly and 
gradually restored the foot of Agnes to its usual position. 



HER FREQUENT COMMUNIONS. 241 

I call attention here to the following remark : it was not 
without motive that the Blessed Agnes raised only one 
foot ; she did this on account of the incredulous : had 
she raised both feet, it might have been believed that her 
body was capable, by a motion communicated to the 
superior part of raising the legs without the help of the 
marvelous ; but as only one foot raised, it is evident that 
divine power acted without regard to natural laws, and 
that there could not be any illusion. 

I have a motive in presenting this remark ; for, on the 
morrow when we arrived in turn at our own monastery, 
there was much conversation in reference to the miracle 
that the Spouse of virgins had performed in favor of 
those holy souls ; some nuns who had been witnesses of 
it, calumniated the work of God, like the Pharisees of 
old who said: "It is by Beelzebub the prince of the 
devils that he casteth out demons. '' (St. Luke, xi. 15.) 
In consequence, as I had received from the Prior Pro- 
vincial authority over that monastery, I assembled all the 
Sisters in conference according to the Rule of the Order, 
and made a minute examination of this miracle under a 
precept of holy obedience. All present declared posi- 
tively that they had seen it perfectly : I therefore called 
before me one of those who had offered the most opposi- 
tion and asked her whether the affair had passed as we 
said : she acknowledged it in the presence of all, but she 
desired to explain that the intention of Blessed Agnes 
was not such as we believed it; I replied: "My very 
dear Sister, we do not interrogate you concerning the in- 
tentions of Blessed Agnes ; we are well aware that you 
are neither her secretary, nor her confidant ; we merely 
ask you, whether you saw the foot rise all alone." She 
said ''yes ;'^ I imposed a penance on her for the discourses 

21 



242 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

in which she had indulged : and this I did for God^s glory 
aod the example of others ; and I report it here, in order 
to give a greater proof of the truth. 

Some time after, Catharine returned to the convent of 
the Blessed Agnes, to consecrate two of her nieces, to the 
service of the Altar. As soon as she arrived, she re- 
paired, as at the first time, to the body of the saintly 
foundress with her companions and some nuns from the 
Convent ; but she did not place herself at the feet but 
joyfully approached the head ; she designed, by humility 
we presume, to avoid what had happened, when she at- 
tempted to kiss the feet ; or perhaps she remembered 
that Mary Magdalen at first poured her perfumes over 
the Saviour^s feet and afterwards shed them over his 
head. She placed her face on the ornaments of gold 
and silk which cover the countenance of Agnes, and 
there remained a long time : then she turned sweetly to 
Lysa, the mother of her two nieces, and inquired smiling : 
''What, do you not observe the present that heaven 
sends us: do not be ungrateful!'' At these words, 
Lysa and the others lifted their eyes and saw a very fine 
and very white manna falling like heavenly dews, and 
covering not only Agnes and Catharine, but also all the 
persons present, and with such abundance that Lysa 
filled her hand with it. To compreheud this miracle, it 
is necessary to know that it was often repeated during 
the life-time of Agnes, especially when she was in prayer : 
so that virgins whom she directed, not suspecting a pro- 
digy, and seeing her mantle always white, wished to 
shake it off : but she prevented them in order to conceal 
the heavenly favor. 

Blessed Agnes knew that Blessed Catharine would be 
one day her companion in heaven ; she therefore amiably 



HER FREQUENT COMMUNIONS. 243 

desired to share on earth her graces and her favors. The 
manna in its snowy whiteness and the fineness of its 
grain, signified pnrity and humility ; and these two vir- 
tues shine in a very particular manner in those two 
virgins, as may be seen in their Memoirs which God in his 
mercy has permitted me to write. This miracle had for 
witnesses Catharine's companions, Lysa among others, 
who is still living : several nuns belonging to the convent 
have equally affirmed before me and before the Friars 
who were with me, that thus the occurrences took place. 
Many are now dead ; but myself and my Brethren recal 
perfectly their depositions : further, Lysa collected the 
manna which fell, showed it frequently, and gave it to 
several persons. 

God accomplished also for his faithfal Spouse during 
his life, many admirable things which are not written in 
this book : what I have related above, I have said for 
the honor and glory of God's holy I^ame, for the salva- 
tion of souls, and to acquit my conscience ; I was un- 
willing to despise the grace from above, and fold up the 
talent entrusted to me ; I have placed it according to the 
best of my ability, so that it might be referred to its divine 
Master. 

I here terminate the second part of this biography ; 
the third will contain Catharine's death with the miracles 
that preceded and followed it. May these three books 
render immortal praise, honor and glory to the ever 
blessed Trinity. Amen. 



EXD OF SECOND PART. 



THIRD PART. 



CHAPTER I, 

CONCERNING THE WITNESSES PRESENT AT CATHARINE'S DEATH, AND 
WHO RELATED THE ATTENDANT CIRCUMSTANCES TO THE AUTHOR. 

The ancient synagogue, when contemplating the eleva- 
tion of the holy Church, and the flight of the soul that 
God had selected for Spouse, exclaims in admiration : 
Quoe est ista qucB ascendit de deserto, de beliciis a/- 
Jluens, innixa super dilectum suum ? (Cant. viii. 5.) 
This passage may be aptly applied to the conclusion of 
this Memoir. The happy death and the last actions of 
Catharine, worthily crown all that preceded. The per- 
fection of her virtues leads us to say, with astonishment : 
Who is this ? that abounding in good works mounts to 
heaven with accelerated flight ; who is this, coming up 
from the desert leaning on *' her beloved, '' united to God 
by love, for all eternity.^' 

As she approached the term of her mortal career, she 
made increased efforts to merit the crown she solicited. 
Her soul, as it were, naturally ravished in ecstasy, rushed 
onward to heaven. This impetus arose from the fire 
which acted and continually mounted upward, I mean 
that fire which the Saviour of the world came to bring on 
earth, and which he desired to see enkindled. She will 
be seen in the last days of her life, becoming likened to her 
Spouse by suffering, uniting her soul to his, and reclining 
C244) 



WITNESSES AT HER DEATH. 245 

on him as a support for quitting the earth victoriously 
and soaring to heaven joyously and triumphantly ; she 
appeared to die, because the gross sense of mankind did 
not descry her glory, but she rests peacefully with the 
cherished Spouse of her soul and brilliant prodigies have 
manifested the honors bestowed on her in heaven. 

When the blessed Catharine, in accordance with the 
command of the Supreme Pontiff, Gregory XL, repaired 
to Florence, [1373] her mission was to establish peace 
between the shepherd and his flock ; she was subjected 
there to several unjust persecutions. A satellite of the 
demon precipitated himself upon her, sword in hand, in- 
tending to kill her, and God alone prevented him from it. 
Notwithstanding all kinds of menaces and dangers, she 
did not retire until the successor of Gregory XI., Urban 
VI., had concluded peace with the Florentines ; as soon 
as it was signed, she returned to her home and occupied 
herself actively with the composition of a book which she 
dictated under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. She 
had recommended her Secretaries to be present during 
her ecstasies, and carefully commit to writing whatever 
she might then dictate ; they did this with fidelity, and col- 
lected a whole volume of great and useful truths. She 
dictated this work whilst her soul was detached from her 
senses, and her body in complete insensibility. God de- 
signed to prove to us that this work does not resemble 
that of men, but emanated from the Holy Ghost himself. 

The Sovereign Pontiff, Urban VI., [1378] who had 
seen Catharine at Avignon, when he was Archbishop of 
Acereuza, and who entertained a high esteem for her 
lights and virtues, commanded me to write to her to 
repair to Rome. I obeyed, but she, with her usual pru- 
dence, answered me thus: ** Father, several persons of 

21* 



246 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

Sienna, and some of the Sisters of raj Order find that I 
journey too frequently, hence they are greatly scandalized, 
and say that a Religious ought not to be thus ever on 
the wing. I do not think that these reproaches should 
give me any trouble, for I have never journied in any di- 
rection, except by order of God and of his Vicar, and 
to promote the salvation of souls ; but to avoid as far as 
I can an occasion of scandal to my neighbor, I do not 
think of removing hence ; nevertheless, if the Vicar of 
Christ wills me to go, his intentions must be accomplished 
not mine. In that case, be so obliging as to make known 
his order to that effect by a written document, so that 
those who are scandalized may know that I do not under- 
take the journey from my own impulse. '^ 

Having received this reply,! went to the Sovereign 
Pontiff, and humbly communicated it to him. He charged 
me to bid Catharine come in the name of holy obedience ; 
and Catharine, like a submissive daughter, speedily arrived 
at Rome with a numerous suite ; she would have had 
many more followers had she not opposed it. Those who 
accompanied her assumed the livery of poverty, by volun- 
tarily relying on Divine Providence, preferring a mendi- 
cant life with the Saint, than abundance in their own 
houses and the deprivation of her pious and captivating 
conversations. 

The Sovereign Pontiff was most happy to see her, and 
requested that, in presence of the Cardinals, she would 
give them an instruction, and that she should especially 
speak concerning the incipient Schism. She did so, 
learnedly and at some length, exhorting every one to for- 
titude and constancy. She showed that Divine Provi- 
dence watches over all, but in a particular manner over 
those who suffer with the Church, and concluded there- 



WITNESSES AT HER DEATH. 24*7 

from that the threatened Schism ought not to frighten 
any one, but that they should do God's work and dread 
nothing. When she had finished, the Sovereign Pontiff, 
quite encouraged, resumed her discourse, and said to the 
Cardinals : ''Behold, Brethren, when we yield to timidity 
how we become guilty before God. This humble woman 
confounds us ; I call her humble, not in contempt, but on 
account of the weakness of her sex : she should naturally 
fear, even though we were of good heart ; and yet where 
we are fearful, she is tranquil, and inspires us with cour- 
age. Is not this a motive for confusion to us all ?'' And 
he continued: ''What should the Vicar of Jesus 
Christ dread, though the whole world were to oppose 
him ; is not Christ, the all-powerful, stronger than the 
world ? He can never forsake the Church. '' The Sov- 
ereign Pontiff, encouraged himself and his Brethren ; he 
praised the Saint in God, and accorded her many spiritual 
favors for herself and her companions. 

Jeanne, Queen of Sicily, at the instigation of the devil, 
declared herself openly against the Church and favored 
the Schism to the extent of her power. Urban VI . 
thought of sending to her Catharine and another Virgin 
called Catharine, daughter of St. Bridget of Sweden, who 
was recently inscribed in the catalogue of the Saints, by 
Pope Boniface IX . He hoped that these two persons 
with whom the Queen was acquainted might induce her to 
forsake her evil ways. When our Blessed Catharine knew 
it, she did not shrink from the charge it was intended to 
impose on her, and she even offered to go, directly. But 
Catharine of Sweden did not like to undertake the voyage, 
and refused in my very presence, the mission that was 
proposed to her. I acknowledge that through imperfec- 
tion and want of faith, I also did not approve the project 



248 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

of the Sovereign Pontiff. I thought that the reputation 
of persons conscerated to God, is so precious, that we 
must beware of tarnishing it by the appearance of evil or 
by the least breath of suspicion. She to whom the 
Virgins were to be sent, might follow the counsels of 
Satan's agents by whom she was surrounded, and cause 
these two devout women to be insulted on their route and 
prevent them from arriving. I presented these observa- 
tions to the Sovereign Pontiff who reflected some time 
and concluded by saying : '' Your views are correct, it is 
more prudent for them not to go.'' I communicated 
this conversation to Catharine who was at the time quite 
ill. She turned to me and said : '^ Had Agnes, Margaret, 
and a multitude of other Yirgins indulged all these 
reflections, they would never have obtained the crown of 
martyrdom ! Have we not a Spouse who can deliver us 
from the hands of the impious and preserve our honor 
amidst a throng of debauchees ? All these reasonings are 
vain ; they spring from a want of faith rather than from 
genuine prudence.'' I then blushed interiorly at being 
so remote from her lofty perfection, and in my heart I 
admired her constancy and her faith. But, as the 
Sovereign Pontiff had decided that she would not go, I 
did not dare to converse longer on the subject. 

In the mean time, it appeared advantageous to the 
Sovereign Pontiff to send me into France, because he 
bad been informed that it would be possible to detach the 
King of France, Charles Y. from the schism excited by 
himself. The instant that I became acquainted with this 
project, I went to take counsel from Catharine : — notwith- 
standing the affliction that my absence would occasion her, 
she advised me to obey the orders of the Sovereign 
Pontiff without delay. She said to me: ''Hold it as 



WITNESSES TO HER DEATH. 249 

certain, father ; that he is truly the Vicar of Jesus Christ ; 
I desire that you would expose yourself to sustain hira as 
you ought for the Catholic Faith itself I entertained 
no doubt on this subject ; but, that saying from Catha- 
rine encouraged me so to combat the schism, that I coh- 
secrated myself from that moment, to the defence of the rights 
of the Sovereign Pontiff: and I continually recalled it to 
mind, in order to fortify myself amid my difficulties and 
trials. I acted therefore in accordance with her counsels, 
and bowed my head beneath the yoke of obedience. 

Some days previous to my departure, being acquainted 
with what would happen, she wished to converse with me 
concerning the revelations and consolations that she had 
received from God, and she did not allow the persons 
present to join in the conversation. After having spoken 
to me during several hours ; she said to me, '^ Now go, 
whither God calls you. I think that in this life we shall 
never again discourse together as we have just now done. " 
Her prediction was accomplished. I departed and she 
remained. Before my return she went to her heavenly 
home, and I had no more the privilege of relishing and 
profiting by, her salutary instructions. It was for this 
reason, no doubt, that desiring to bid me a last farewell, 
she went to the place where I was to embark, and when 
we were setting out, she knelt and after praying, made 
over us with tearful eyes, the sacred sign of the Cross, 
as if she would say ; ' ' Go, my son, in safety, shielded 
by the protection of this blessed sign ; but in this life 
thou shalt ne'er again behold thy Mother. '' Although 
the sea was infested by pirates, we arrived happily at 
Pisa, and then had an equally prosperous voyage to 
Genes ; notwithstanding the numerous galle3''s of schis- 
matics pursuing their route to Avignon. We afterwards 



250 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

continued our journey by land as far as a town called 
Yentimiglia. Had we gone farther we should have in- 
evitably fallen into the ambuscades of those especially 
who had designs on my life ; but by the permission of 
God, we stopped there a day and a Religious of my 
Order, who was a native of that place, forwarded me a 
letter in which he said ; '' Beware of passing Yentimig- 
lia, for ambushes are prepared for you, and were you to 
fall into any one of them, no human aid could save you 
from death. ^' 

On this advice, after having taken counsel of the com- 
panion whom the Sovereign Pontiff had given me, I 
returned to Genes ; I sent word to the Holy Father of 
what had happened, and asked what step I should take. 
He commanded me to remain at this place and preach a 
Crusade against the schismatics. This mission delayed 
my return, audit w^as at that moment the Blessed Catha- 
rine concluded her pilgrimage and crowned it by an 
admirable martyrdom. Therefore, from this date, I can 
no longer describe events as having seen them personally ; 
but all that I shall commit to writing, I know by the 
letters which she then addressed me and very frequently 
too ; and from persons w^ho assisted her in her latest mo- 
ments, and who witnessed the prodigies which the 
Almighty effected by the intercession of his servant. 
But lest in indicating these witnesses in general, I may 
appear to suppose them, I intend naming them in order, 
that others may credit them more thoroughly than they 
do myself ; they are assuredly more worthy, for they imi- 
tated better than I, the examples offered by Catharine : 
they consequently comprehended them more clearly. 

I will begin by the females who were her faithful com- 
panions. Alessia of Sienna, Sister of Penance of St. 



WITNESSES AT HER DEATH. 251 

Dominic, appears to me to be entitled to the highest rank 
among the disciples of Catharine, not by her seniority, 
but by the perfection of her virtues. After losing in her 
youth, a husband equally noted for his nobility and learning 
she despised all worldly pleasures, and became so wedded 
to our Saint, that in the end she had not courage to leave 
her : she renounced her wealth and according to our 
Redeemer's counsel distributed it to the poor. In the 
full imitation of her whom she had chosen for Mistress, 
she afflicted her body by fasts, vigils, and every variety of 
mortification : prayer and contemplation occupied her 
continually : she persevered with so much constancy and 
perfection that Catharine, in the latter portion of her 
life, made her, I think, depositary of all her secrets, and 
wished, that after her own death, Alessia should become 
the superior and model of her companions. I found her 
also at Rome, when I returned there and she gave me 
many pieces of information ; but a short time after she 
went to rejoin in heaven her w^hom she had so tenderly 
cherished in our Lord. She, is my first witness of what 
happened during my absence. 

My second witness is Fran9oise of Sienna. Her soul 
was always tenderly united to God, and to the Blessed 
Catharine. As soon as she became a widow, she clothed 
herself with the holy habit of the Sisters of Penance : she 
consecrated her three remaining sons to God in the Order 
of Preaching Friars ; and before dying, she had the con- 
solation of seeing them depart for the home of the just — - 
for they piously terminated their career at the period of 
the Plague, and God assisted them in a special manner, 
by the intercessory prayers of Catharine. Fran9oise sur- 
vived Alessia a short time ; but she also recounted to me 



252 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

a number of circumstances. The third companion of 
Catharine that I shall cite, is Lysa who still lives ; she is 
well known in Rome, especially by the citizens who reside 
in the district In which she dwells. I abstain from giving 
her eulogium because she is yet alive : her relation of 
sister-in-law to Catharine might render her testimony 
suspected ; but I know that she always spoke the truth. 

After the demise of Catharine, I found several holy 
men who had been witnesses of her last moments : I will 
only name four among them, all commendable by their 
merits and their virtues. Two have already followed 
Catharine to heaven ; two yet live, and these I have 
selected for the conviction of the incredulous. 

The first of the four is he, whom we styled Brother 
Saint, both on account of his name and his life ; he was 
from Teramo ; he forsook his parents and his country 
and fixed his residence at Sienna, where he led during 
more than thirty years, a very solitary life, never inciting 
others to speak of him, and obeying the direction of some 
devout and learned Religious. He found in his old age 
the precious pearl of the Gospel, in Blessed Catharine. 
For her, he quitted his peaceful cell and his style of 
living, in order to labor not solely for himself but for the 
good of others ; he affirmed that he found greater 
tranquillity, and more profit to his soul in following Catha- 
rine and listening to her, than he ever enjoyed in his solitude ; 
above all he made great progress in patience. He 
suffered much from a disease of the heart and our Saint 
taught him to support his continual anguish, not only 
with resignation, but with joy : he related to me several 
circumstances which transpired during my absence ; but 
a short time after having quitted her he went again to 



WITNESSES AT HER DEATH, 253 

join in celestial mansions her whose disciple he 
became. 

The second witness is a Florentine who had enriched 
his early years by the wisdom of old age, and had 
adorned them with all the virtues : this was Barduccio. 
He left parents, brothers and country to follow Catharine 
to Rome, and he remained there until his death. I have 
since learned that our Saint particularly esteemed him, and, 
I suppose it was on account of his angelical purity. 
What is there to exite surprise in one Virgin cherishing 
another ! In her last moments, Catharine enjoined him 
to attach himself to me and place himself under my 
direction ; she did it without doubt because she was aware 
that he would not live long : in effect, a short time after, 
he was attacked with a phthisic, and although he 
appeared at first to be convalescent, it soon became evident 
that he was beyond hope. Fearing that the air of Rome 
was hurtful to him, I sent him to Sienna where he slept 
peacefully in the Lord. Those who witnessed his death, 
declare that at his last moments, he looked up to heaven 
smiling, and rendered up his soul with such lively tokens 
of joy, that death itself could not obliterate their impres- 
sion from his countenance : he probably saw her whom he 
had loved during life, with the greatest purity of heart, 
come forth to meet him, in the glory of triumph. Bar- 
duccio told me many things which happened during my 
absence, and I credit his informations because I knew 
the solid virtues that adorned his soul. 

My third witness is a young man of Sienna, Etienne 
Maconi, of whom I have already written. I will not di- 
late in words of praise concerning him, because he is yet 
on the road in which praise is perilous ; I will simply say, 
that he was one of the secretaries of Catharine, and that 

22 



254 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

he wrote the greater portion of her letters and the book 
that she composed ; he was so attached to our Saint, 
that, in order to follow her everywhere, he quitted his 
family and his native land. At the moment of dying, 
Catharine called him, and said to him : '* My son, the 
will of God is that you renounce the world and become a 
Carthusian." The son pursued religiously the order of 
the mother, and everything proved that the command 
came from God himself, for I do not remember having 
seen any one advance so rapidly in the religious life. 
Scarcely did he make his profession when he was named 
Prior, and he acquitted himself so perfectly of that 
charge, that he has ever since preserved it. He is now 
Prior of Milan, and Visitor of a great number of Con- 
vents of his Order. He committed to writing what hap- 
pened at Catharine's death, and related to me all the 
particulars with which he was acquainted. He perused 
also, nearly all that I have written in this history, and I 
can say with the Evangelist, St. John : Ille seit quia 
vera dicit. (St. John xix. 35.) 

The last witness that I name, among those who have given 
me hints, documents, or other means of information, is 
Neri, or Ranieri, son of Landoccio of Sienna. After 
Catharine's death, he embraced the solitary life which he 
is still leading. He wrote (with Etienne Maconi and 
Barduccio) the letters and the book of the Saint ; but he 
was the first that followed the Spouse of Christ — quitting 
his father, who still lived, and all that he possessed of 
earthly riches — as he was longer than any other a witness 
of the admirable actions of Catharine, I invoke his testi- 
mony relative to this biography, with that of Etienne the 
Carthusian. 



WITNESSES AT HER DEATH. 255 

The several Religious and Sisters whom I have named 
above, have acquainted me, either in manuscript, or by 
the living voice, with all that occurred during my absence, 
before and after the death of Catharine. Hence, dear 
reader, you are in possession of my reasons for believing 
them confidently. 



CHAPTER IL 

OF CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH HAPPENED A YEAR AND A HALF BEFORE THE 
DEATH OF THE BLESSED CATHARINE, AND OF THE MARTYRDOM 
THAT SATAN CAUSED HER TO UNDERGO. 

As I have said above, after that, (in accordance with 
the order of the Sovereign Pontiff,) I had quitted the 
Spouse of Christ, who remained at Rome, several circum- 
stances occurred which merit narration. I have only 
cited some of them ; but now, with the grace of God, I 
will declare facts which display the splendid sanctity of 
her happy death, and which were so many preludes to her 
entrance into eternal bliss. The Blessed Catharine saw 
the Church of God, that she so ardently loved, rent by 
the miseries of schism, and the Yicar of Jesus Christ 
surrounded by difficulties and persecutions ; tears had be- 
come her bread by night and by day, and she never 
ceased crying to God, supplicating him to restore peace 
to the Church. God gave her some consolations : thus, a 
year previous to her death, the very day on which she 
was to quit the earth, he granted a double victory to the 
Church and to the Sovereign Pontiff. The Schismatics, 
hitherto masters of the Castle of St. Angelo, disturbed 
the peace of the city, and ravaged the entire country : 
they were completely vanquished, the chiefs were taken, 
and many perished. The Pope could not reside near the 
Church of the Holy Apostles, on account of the vicinity 
of the Castle of St. Angelo. Catharine advised him to 
go, barefooted, to the august Basilica. All the people 
followed him in great devotion, and rendered to Almighty 
C 256 ) 



CIRCUMSTANCES PRIOR TO HER DEATH. 25T 

God, solemn thanksgiving for all his benefits. The holy 
Church and her Pontiff began to breathe a little, and our 
Saint enjoyed, at last, some consolation in their relief. 

But her anguish was soon renewed. The old serpent, 
who could not succeed by this method, attacked her by 
others more dangerous and more rude. What he could not 
effect by foreigners and schismatics, he attempted by means 
of those who had remained faithful to the Holy See ; he 
created a division between the people of Rome and the 
Sovereign Pontiff, and things attained such a point, that the 
populace openly threatened the life of the Supreme Pontiff, 
When Catharine was informed of it, she was deeply affected; 
she had recourse as usual to prayer, and ardently implored 
her divine Spouse never to permit such a crime. At that 
time Catharine wrote me a letter, in which she told me, 
that she had seen, in spirit, the city of Rome filled with 
demons, who excited the people to Parricide ; they 
uttered horrible cries against the Saint, and said to her : 
*' Cursed be thou that wonldst arrest us ; but we will put 
thee to death in a frightful manner.'^ She answered 
naught, but she continually prayed with fervor, and im- 
plored God, that for the honor of his Name and the salvation 
of the Church, then rocked by rude storms, that he would 
deign to subvert the schemes of hell, in order to save the 
Sovereign Pontiff, and not allow the people to commit 
such an abominable offence. The Lord once answered 
her: ''Suffer that nation which daily blasphemes my 
name, to fall into that crime, and when it will be com- 
mitted, I will execute vengeance and destroy it, because 
my justice demands that I no longer support its iniquities.'' 
But she prayed with still increased fervor: ''0 most 
clement God, thou knowest how deeply the Spouse that 
thou hast redeemed by thy precious blood, is outraged 

22 i= 



258 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

throughout the broad universe ; thou kuowest how few 
defenders she has, and thou canst not be ignorant how 
ardently its enemies desire the humiliation and death of 
thy Vicar. If that misfortune happen, not only people 
of Kome, but also all Christians and the Holy Church 
will suffer deeply from it. Therefore let thine anger be 
appeased, and despise not thy people for whom thou hast 
paid so heavy a ransom." 

This contest with God endured several days and nights 
and her feeble body had much to endure. God opposed 
his justice to her prayers, and the demons continued 
their vociferations against her. Her fervor was then so 
great that if God, to use an expression familiar with her, 
had not encircled her members, she must have sunk back, 
weighed down upon herself. But at length, in this ob- 
stinate combat in which her body was perishing through 
protracted sufferings, Catharine triumphed and obtained 
her petition. When God alleged his justice, she replied : 
''Lord because thy justice must be satisfied, despise not 
I entreat thee the prayers of thy servant ; inflict the 
chastisement that this people merit on my body : yes, for 
the honor of thy Name and that of thy holy Church, I 
will cheerfully drain that chalice of suffering and death ; 
thy Truth knows, that I have ever ardently desired it, 
and that thy grace has continually inflamed my soul with 
that desire.'^ At these words which she pronounced in 
the intensity of her heart, the interior voice of God was 
no longer heard and she understood by this divine silence 
that her prayer had prevailed. In effect from that mo- 
ment, the popular sedition gradually calmed and at last 
was completely appeased ; but the Blessed like a pure 
victim supported its expiation. The powers of hell had 
permission to torment her virginal body, and exert their 



CIRCUMSTANCES PRIOR TO HER DEATH. 259 

rage on it with such cruelty, that those who witnessed it, 
declared to me that it would be impossible to conceive 
an idea of it without having seen its evidences. 

Those cruel sufferings increased daily ; her skin ad- 
hered to her bones and her body appeared like one issuing 
from the tomb ; she walked, prayed and worked without 
intermission ; but those who saw her, would have believed 
her to be a phantom rather than a living soul : her tor- 
tures multiplied and visibly consumed her body. Far 
from interrupting her prayers, Catharine increased their 
length and their fervor ; her spiritual family who were 
surrounding her at that time, saw very distinctly the 
exterior signs of the tortures heaped upon her by hell ; but 
no one could apply a remedy. The will of God opposed it, 
and besides, notwithstanding the wasting of her corporeal 
frame, her soul rose joyfully and courageously above 
trouble : the more she prayed, the more she suffered : I 
was informed by the spectators, and indeed she wrote to 
me herself, that in the midst of her martyrdom, she 
heard the devils shriek: ^'Cursed, thou hast always pur- 
sued us, and thou continuest thy pursuit : now we intend 
satiating our vengeance : thou designest to force us to go 
hence, but we will take thy life.'' And whilst saying 
that, they redoubled their blows. 

Catharine suffered thus, from Sunday of Sexagesima 
until the last day of April on which she died, and her 
sufferings continually increased until her spirit winged its 
heavenward flight. She wrote me a very remarkable cir- 
cumstance which took place about that time. Hitherto 
on account of pain in her side, and other infirmities which 
never forsook her, she deferred hearing Mass until the hour 
of Tierce ; thus she continued during the entire season of 
Lent, and went every morning to the church at St. Peter's. 



260 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

She heard Mass, prayed longer than formerly and re- 
turned home at the hour of Vespers : those who then saw 
her extended on her bed could not have believed her 
capable of rising ; on the morrow however, at the dawn of 
day, she arose, set out from her house, via del Papa, en- 
tered the Minerva and the Campo di Fiore, and went 
with a hasty step to St. Peter's ; this course was capable 
of fatiguing any one in good health. Some days before 
she was called to Heaven, she found herself unable to rise ; 
finally, on Sunday April 29, 1380, on the festival of St. 
Peter, martyr of the Order of Preaching Friars, about 
the hour of Tierce, she yielded her beautiful soul to its 
loving Spouse and Redeemer. 

Many remarkable events transpired then, which I will 
narrate in the following chapters. 



CHAPTER III. 

HOW A.RDENTLY BLESSED CATHARINE SIGHED TO BE DELIVERED FROM 
THE BODY AND UNITED TO CHRIST. 

Catherine's mortal life approached its term, and the 
Lord manifested by various prodigies, how proportionate 
the glory with which he would recompense his Spouse in 
Heaven, was to the treasures with which his grace had 
favored her on earth. She invoked the blessed moment 
which was to unite her to Jesus Christ, when she would 
contemplate face to face in the land of unending felicity, 
the Truth which she had seen gently reflected during her 
terrestial pilgrimage ; that desire swelled in her heart in 
proportion as supernatural light beamed more clearly 
upon her understanding. Two years antecedent to her 
death. Truth overspread her soul with such lights, that 
she was obliged to allow them to radiate exteriorly, and 
therefore she requested her Secretaries to hear and com- 
mit to writing what she would say during her ecstacies ; 
thus in a short space of time a book was composed con- 
taining a Dialogue between a soul and God, At the end 
of that volume, there are two things that I deem very 
useful to place here, for the reader's edification : these 
two things form an epitome of all that is said in detail in 
the work, and a prayer is annexed, by which the Blessed 
Catharine terminates and shows how fervently she desires 
to be delivered from her body, in order to be united to 
Jesus Christ. 

Catharine therein relates that God the Father, said to 

(261) 



262 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

the soul, after having discoursed at length concerning the 
obedience of the perfect: ''Xow, dear and well-beloved 
daughter, I have satisfied thy desire from the beginning 
to the end, on the subject of obedience ; thou hast re- 
quested of me four things : the first for thyself; I granted 
it to thee, by enlightening thee with my Truth, proving 
to thee how, by the light of faith, by knowing me and 
knowing thyself, thou wilt attain to an acquaintance with 
truth. Thy second petition implored mercy for the 
world ; the third was in favor of the mystical body of the 
Church, supplicating me to deliver it from obscurity and 
persecutions, and desiring that I should punish the ini- 
quities of others on thyself. I then explained to thee 
that no trouble endured in time could in itself alone 
satisfy, for an offence committed against 31e, the eternal 
Good ; such pain can alone satisfy, if it be united to de- 
sire of soul and contrition of heart : I explained to thee 
how. I also replied to thee, that it was my intention to 
grant mercy to the world, by showing to thee that Mercy 
is my darling attribute, and to that end, and for the 
incomprehensible love I felt towards man, I sent the 
Word, my only Son ; and I illustrated his mediation to 
thee by the representation of a Bridge reaching from 
heaven to earth ; that is, uniting the human and divine 
natures. I also showed thee, that this bridge is mounted 
by three degrees, viz : the three powers of the soul. 
After oflTering thee the Word, under the form of a bridge, 
I presented thee another figure and showed thee three 
degrees on his body ; the first at his feet ; the second at 
the wound of the side ; the third at its mouth. These 
degrees indicate three states or conditions of the soul : the 
imperfect, the perfect, and the superior state, or that in 
which the souls attain to the excellence of unitive love. 



HER SIGHS FOR DEATH. 263 

I have pointed out to thee what destroys imperfection, 
and what conducts to perfection ; the way that must be 
followed, the secret snares of Satan, and the illusions of 
self-love. I have made known to thee the three methods of 
punishment employed by my clemency in these states. The 
first is the pains and trials that I inflict on man during this 
life. The second is the chastisement that falls at the hour of 
death upon those who die without hope, being in mortal sin ; 
they pass beneath the bridge and enter the road to hell, 
and I have exhibited to thee their future torments. The 
third means is the general Judgment, and I have shown thee 
somewhat of the pain of the condemned, and the glory of 
the Blessed, when each soul will be endued with proper- 
ties of its body. I have already promised thee, and I do 
promise thee to reform the Church my Spouse, by the 
sufferings of my servants whom I invite to expiate, in 
union with thee, by sorrows and weeping the iniquity of 
her ministers. I have clearly shown thee the dignity to 
which I have exalted them, and the respect which they 
owe to seculars, and having revealed to thee their defects, 
I have also declared to thee that these should in no wise 
diminish respect for their sublime authority, and how 
hateful to me is any contrary way of acting. I spoke to 
thee of the virtue of such as live like the Angels and dis- 
coursed with thee concerning the excellence of the Sacra- 
ment of the Altar. When conversing with thee on the 
three states of the soul, I designed showing thee the va- 
rious kinds of tears. I told thee whence they came, and 
what reference they have to the various conditions of the 
soul — that all tears emanate from the heart. 1 explained 
successively four kinds of tears, and have manifested to 
thee a fifth whose consequences is death. 

**In answer to thy fourth petition: I have given thee 



264 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

explanations concerning my general and particular Provi- 
dence : all has been and will be accomplished by my 
supreme and divine Providence, originating and permit- 
ting whatever occurs to you, tribulations or consolations 
spiritual and temporal, the whole for your welfare, that 
you may be sanctfied in me and my truth may be accom- 
plished in you : for the Blood of the eternal Son revealed 
to thee that thou wast created for eternal life. I have 
shown thee the perfection of obedience and the imperfec- 
tion of disobedience and the sources of each ; I have 
spoken particularly of the imperfect and perfect Religious ; 
obedience produces peace, disobedience strife ; he who 
obeys not deceives himself, and by Adam's disobedience 
death entered the world." 

*' Now, I, God the Father, supreme and eternal Truth, 
I declare to thee that it is only by obedience to my only 
Son that thou canst have life ; I have created a bridge for 
thee, after the road to heaven was broken, in order that 
thou mightst pass by that inviting and correct way — which 
is Truth, one and distinct, — by means of obedience. 
Now, I invite all my faithful servants to mourn, by tears 
and humble, constant prayer, I may grant mercy to the 
world. Run in the path of truth, by dying to thyself, 
and above all never relent, because I shall require of thee 
more than I did formerly, having manifested myself to 
thee in my truth. Beware of forsaking the knowledge 
of thyself, but augment and preserve the treasure of it 
that I gave thee. That treasure is a doctrine of truth, 
founded on the immoveable living corner-stone, w^hich is 
Christ, the meek and lowly Jesus. This doctrine is clad 
in light by which it may be distinguished from darkness : 
beloved Daughter clothe thyself with it in truth.'' 

After that soul had seen with the eye of the under- 



HER SIGHS FOR DEATH. 265 

standing and known by the light of Faith, the perfection 
of Obedience ; after hearing with her reason, and relishing 
by the ardent desire of her heart, she contemplated 
herself in the divine Majesty, and gave him thanks, 
saying: *' Father! I thank thee that thou didst not 
despise the work of thy hands ; Thou hast not turned aside 
thy countenance nor repulsed my desires ; Thou Light 
Eternal, had not spurned my darkness ; Thou Life^ hast 
not abandoned me to death ; supreme Physician, thou 
hast had mercy on my infirmity ; Eternal Purity thou 
hast not neglected my iniquities, stains and miseries ; 
Thou unspeakable Wisdom, I folly, Thou Infinite, while 
I am insignificant ; yes, in thy light I have found light, 
in thy prudence, truth ; in thy clemency. Charity and 
fraternal love. Whence arose thy mercies ? Not from 
any virtue dwelling in me, but from thy charity alone. 
Grant Lord that my memory may retain thy benefits : 
that my will may burn with the fire of thy Charity, and 
that with the key of obedience I may open Heaven. I 
implore this grace for every rational creature, individually 
and collectively, and for the mystical body of the Church ; 
I confess and deny not that thou didst love me before I 
was ; and that thou dost love thy creature with an excessive 
love. 

'' Eternal Trinity ! Deity ! that by union with the 
divine nature, hast given such value to the blood of thy 
Son ; O Eternal Trinity ! deep sea in which the more I 
search, the more I find ; and the more I find the more I 
search; in satisfying the soul thou art never satiated; it 
is always eager, always famished for thee Eternal Trinity, 
because it desires to see thy light, in thy light ; as the 
thirsty hind pants for the fountains of living waters, so 
my soul desires to escape from its obscure prison, to con- 

23 



266 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

template Thee as thou art in the reality of thy existence. 
How long will thou conceal thy countenance from me 
Eternal Trinity ! fire and abyss of charity, dissipate the 
mist of my material nature ; for the knowledge thou hast 
given me of thyself, fills me with thy truth and forces me 
to wish deliverance from my terrestrial bonds ; I thirst to 
give this life for the honor and glory of thy Name, having 
tasted and witnessed with the eyes of my understanding 
the depths of thy greatness and the beauty of thy creature. 
When beholding myself in thee, I saw that I had been 
created to thy image, because thou didst allow me to 
participate in thy power. Eternal Father ! thou hast 
communicated to my understanding the wisdom that 
appertains to thy only Son ; and the Holy Ghost which 
proceeds from thee and from thy only Son, bestowed on 
me the will that renders me capable of loving thee ; for 
Thou ! eternal Trinity ! Thou art my Creator and I am 
thy creature ; and thou hast revealed to me, by the new 
creation given to me by the blood of thy only Son, how 
impassioned thou art for the beauty of the creature. 

'' Abyss ! Eternal Deity ! unfathomable sea ! 
couldst thou give me more than thyself. Thou art an 
ever burning fire, consuming yet never consumed : dis- 
sipating by thy ardors all the love the soul bears to 
itself : thou art a fire that annihilates all colds ; a light 
that illumines souls, and by that light thou hast mani- 
fested to me thy truth. By the light of Faith I acquire 
wisdom, fortitude, courage and perseverance ; by the 
light of faith I also learn hope, and the path of rectitude, 
and without it I should grope in thick darkness. Hence 
I implore thee, O Eternal Father ! to enlighten my soul 
with the torch of Faith. That light is an ocean, nour- 
ishing the soul that dwells in thee. O adorable Trinity I 



HER SIGHS FOR DEATH. 26t 

pacific sea, whose waters never agitated and far from 
awakening dread, give the correct knowledge of truth ; 
that water in its transparency manifests hidden things. 
When the soul abounds with the light of faith, it is re- 
splendent, so to speak, with what it believes. That sea 
is like a mirror held by the hand of thy Love before the 
eyes of my soul : and in it I perceive that thou art the 
supreme and infinite Good, incomprehensible and inesti- 
mable. Beauty above all beauty. Wisdom superior to 
all wisdom, for thou art Wisdom herself. Thou, the 
food of Angelic choirs by the fire of thy Charity, hast 
given thyself to man : Thou art a garment that covers all 
nudity : thy sweetness is devoid of bitterness and 
appeases the longing soul ! 

^' ! ever-living Trinity ! I know thee by the light of 
Faith ; and thou hast taught me by numerous and 
admirable lessons, the w^ay of exalted perfection. 
Therefore, in that light and not in darkness will I serve 
thee ! Let me become a mirror of a good and perfect 
life, coming forth from my hitherto miserable way of 
living wherein I served thee in obscurity : for I knew not 
thy Truth and therefore could not love it? But why did 
I not know thee ? — because the mists of self-love 
darkened my understanding. Who can mount to thee, 
and thank thee worthily for the ineffable treasure and 
superabundant favors thou hast granted me, and the doc- 
trine of truth that thou hast revealed to me. This 
doctrine is a very particular favor, above the general 
grace accorded to mankind. Thou hast deigned to 
condescend to my necessities and to those of other beings, 
that they may henceforth contemplate themselves therein 
as in a mirror. Lord, answer for thyself. Thou hast 
given to me largely and thou canst recognize thy benefits 



268 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

and return thanks to thyself for them, by spreading abroad 
in my soul the light of thy grace, so that with that light 
I may testify to thee my gratitude. Clothe me, clothe 
me with thyself, eternal Truth, that I may run through 
this mortal career in the verity of Obedience, and in the 
light of holy Faith, with which thou hast inebriated my 
soul." 

May these words induce you reader, to admire this 
holy woman, not only in the sanctity of her life, but also 
in the sublimity of her doctrine. By reflecting on the 
preceding, you will discover that she desired to die and 
be united to Jesus Christ, because she knew and under- 
stood, above all at that period, that it was ^^ far better 
to he with Christ, " the end and the perfection of all good. 
She at last obtained the object of her ever increasing de- 
sire ; the promises made to her by our Redeemer during 
her youth when choosing her for his Spouse were accom- 
plished, and her soul quitted its mortal tenement to cele- 
brate with him an eternal marriage. 



CHAPTER IV. 

OP THE DEATH OF ST. CATHARINE, AND OF THE KEC0MMENDATI0N3 
PROPOSED TO HER SPIRITUAL SONS AND DAUGHTERS IN HER DYING 
MOMENTS. 

The Blessed Catharine, perceiving her last hour ap- 
proach, summoned around her her followers and such as 
the Lord had made members of her household ; she ad- 
dressed to them first a general discourse, exhorting all to 
advance in the path of virtue ; she developed therein sev- 
eral important points, which I found in the Manuscripts 
of the witnesses above mentioned. 

The first and fundamental obligation that she laid 
down was this : He who gives himself to God, if he de- 
sires to possess Him in return must divest his heart from 
all sensible love ; not only towards persons, but creatures, 
in order to tend to God, his Creator, in entire simplicity 
and sincerity of soul ; for, said she, the heart cannot give 
itself unreservedly to God if it be not liberated, disen- 
tangled and disfranchised from every bond. A soul can- 
not give its heart to God without prayer, founded on 
humility, which acknowledges itself nothing, and devoid 
of all personal confidence. A generous application to 
mental prayer is also requisite, because it increases and for- 
tifies virtues which without that aliment would become weak 
and then vanish. She taught all her followers to devote 
stated hours to vocal prayer, and to give themselves con^ 
tinuoMy to mental prayer either by acts or with the 
heart. 

She said, besides, that by the aid of a strong faith, 

23* ( 269 ) 



2T0 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

she saw and perfectly understood in her mind, that what- 
ever happened to herself or others, came from God, and 
proceeded from his immense love to his creatures ; which 
excited and developed in her a love for, and a prompti- 
tude in obeying the orders of God, and of her superiors, 
believing always that their orders came from God himself, 
either for the necessities of salvation, or for the increasing 
of virtues in her soul. She declared that in order to ac- 
quire purity of mind, it was necessary for man to beware 
of judging unfavorably of his neighbor, and to abstain 
from all idle words concerning his conduct ; for in all 
creatures we must behold the will of God. She particu- 
larly recommended never to despise or condemn any one 
under form of judgment, even though we should see them 
commit a fault ; if sometimes the evil is evident, we 
should take compassion on him who committed it, and 
pray for him without despising or condemning him. She 
ever entertained a strong confidence in divine Providence, 
because she knew by experience, how graciously his 
bounty extends over all. Catharine and her followers had 
always experienced that God provided for all their neces- 
sities. She added, that those who trust in Divine Provi- 
dence, shall not only never be abandoned, but shall 
experience a special help. 

The Blessed Catharine also gave her followers other 
counsels ; then she terminated by the last recommenda- 
tion of the Saviour to his disciples, conjuring them 
humbly and earnestly to love one another. By their 
mutual affection, they would prove themselves her spiritual 
children, and she would believe herself their Mother, by so 
doing they would prove her glory and her crown ; and she 
would intercede with the divine Goodness in their behalf 
that he would bless them as copiously as he had blessed 



HER DEATH. 2Y1 

herself. She commanded them, in the name of charity, 
to address continual and fervent prayers for the reforma- 
tion and prosperity of the holy Church, and for the Vicar 
of Jesus Christ. These had been her ever-present 
thoughts during seven years : and to obtain an answer to 
her prayers she had constantly endured in her body, very 
great pains and inlBrmities in the latter years. She 
added that, as Satan had obtained from God permission 
to overwhelm Job with every variety of ill, it seemed to 
her that hell had also obtained permission to afflict and 
harass her body by every species of torments, so that 
from her head to her feet it appeared ^' that there was no 
health in her.'' She then said in conclusion : '^ My dear 
friends, it appears evident to me that my beloved Spouse 
has disposed and designed all, so that, according to my 
hearts earnest desire, after the trials that his goodness 
has deigned to accord me, my soul shall be liberated 
from its obscure prison, and return to its true source. '' 

The witnesses whom I have cited have written that the 
anguish and deep distress of Catharine appeared so ter- 
rible, that no one could have supported them without the 
grace of God ; she endured them calmly without demon- 
strating any sign of sadness. As they were in amazement 
and wept at beholding her in that condition she thus 
addressed them : ''Beloved sons, you ought not to be 
afflicted at my death ; you should rather rejoice with me 
and congratulate me, because I am about to quit this 
land of exile, and repose in the unending peace of God. 
I give you the positive assurance that I shall be more 
useful to you after my decease, than I would, or could 
have been by remaining with you in this life so obscured 
by grief and so tilled with miseries. Nevertheless I com- 
mend my existence, its termination and my whole being 



2T2 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

into the hands of my ever Blessed Spouse ; and if he 
perceives that I can be useful to any living creature, if 
he will that I yet remain amid anguish and torture, I am 
ready for the honor of his Name and the salvation of the 
neighbor, to suffer a hundred times a day, were it possi- 
ble, death and all other imaginable torments. But if it 
be agreeable to him that I depart, be certain, dear chil- 
dren, that I have given my life for the CMirch: I have 
a certain knowledge that God has permitted it by a 
peculiar grace, ^^ After that, she called her disciples, 
one after another, and prescribed to each one the kind 
of life that he ought to embrace after her death ; she 
desired that all should submit to my direction, as the one 
who held her place, indicating to some the Religious, 
and to others a Solitary life. For the women, and par- 
ticularly the Sisters of Penance, she designated Alessia 
as Superior. She regulated all, according to the inspi- 
ration of the Holy Ghost ; the event proved it thus, for 
her directions proved beneficial to every one. 

After that she asked pardon of all. " My beloved,'^ 
said she, ^' I have hungered and thirsted for your sal- 
vation, I dare not say the reverse ; nevertheless I may 
have been wanting to 3^ou in many things ; not only I 
have not given you an example of good works and of 
virtue as I should and might have done, had I been the 
true Spouse of our Lord and a perfect Religious, but 
also, in your temporal wants I have not been zealous and 
attentive as I should have been. I therefore implore of 
all, in general and in particular, pardon and indulgence ; 
I entreat you, and I conjure you humbly and earnestly, 
to pursue to the end the path of virtue, that you may be, 
as I have foretold you, my joy and my crown.'' After 
these words she kept silent : she then made, as she did 



HER DEATH. 2Y3 

daily her general confession, and humbly asked for the 
Holy Eucharist and the last Sacraments. Her requests 
were granted ; she also implored the plenary Indulgence 
which had been granted to her by the Sovereign Pontiffs 
Gregory XI. and Urban VI., who had already given it to 
her. She then began to enter upon her agony and con- 
tend against Satan ; the assistants perceived it by her 
words and gestures. Sometimes she maintained silence, 
sometimes she replied, sometimes she smiled, occasionally 
she appeared to despise what she heard, and again to 
feel indignant. 

Those who related to me the events that then transpired, 
remarked one peculiar circumstance, and I believe it hap- 
pened for the greater glory of God. After observing 
silence, as though she were listening to an accusation, 
she replied with a joyful countenance: '^ No, never, 
vain-glory, but the real honor and glory of God.^^ 
There was a motive for Divine Providence permitting 
these words to be heard ; for several persons, on account 
of the meekness of her charity and the abdudant graces 
that were granted to her, believe that she courted praise 
or at least enjoyed it, and that on this account she took 
delight in appearing before the public. Some said, when 
speaking of her : *' Why run from all sides to her ; it is 
only a woman ; she ought to remain in her cell, if she 
desires to serve God.'' The response to these reproaches 
was complete ; "• No, never vain-glory :'' said she, ^^hut 
the true glory of God and his honor ;^^ that is ; no, it 
it was not vain-glory that induced me to go on all sides 
and perform good works, but I acted continually for the 
glory of the Saviour and the honor of his Name. I like- 
wise can give testimony with certitude, having so often 
heard her general confessions and her particular ones, and 



2T4: LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

who have carefully examined all her acts ; she always 
obeyed the direct order of God and his inspirations ; not 
only she sought not praise, but she did not even think of 
men, except when she was praying for their salvation and 
laboring to promote it. One who had not been witness 
of her life, could never know to what a degree, she was a 
strraiger to those human passions which are even usual in 
persons consecrated in religion. The words of the 
Apostle may most suitably be applied to her : Nosti^a 
autem conversatio in ctelis est. (Phil. iii. 20.) "Our 
conversation is in heaven." Nothing could for one 
moment distract her desires, and weaken the ardor of her 
charity. 

After this prolonged contest and her victory, Catharine 
came to herself, renewed the public confession she was 
accustomed to make and for greater security asked to 
receive again the absolution and indulgence that had al- 
ready been given ; she followed in that, the doctrine and 
the example of St. Martin, St. Jerome, and St. Augus- 
tine, who wish that no Christian, whatever be his state of 
perfection, leave this world, without accusing himself of 
his defects, and exciting in his heart regret for having 
committed them. St. Augustine, in his last malady, 
caused the seven Penitential Psalms to be inscribed on the 
wall, near to his bed ; he read them constantly and with an 
abundance of tears. St. Jerome, when dying, confessed 
his sins and defects publicly. St. Martin, in his last 
moments, taught his disciples, by word and example, that 
a Christian ought to die on sackcloth and ashes, to testify his 
humility and heartfelt repentance. Inimitation of those great 
Saints, Catharine showed her contrition, by all possible 
means — and twice humbly petitioned absolution for her 



HER DEATH. 275 

sins, and satisfaction of pains which are attached to the 
indulgence. 

When all was terminated, the attendants observed that 
her physical strength diminished rapidly. She never 
desisted, however, from giving pious recommendations to 
her spiritual sons and daughters, to those present and 
to those who were absent ; for, in her last agony she 
said to the individuals who were present: ''Apply to 
Friar Raymond in all your doubts and difficulties, and 
tell him never to become remiss and to fear not, in what- 
ever may befall him. I will be with him continually and 
will protect him in all his dangers ; when he does wrong 
I will warn him, so that he may correct himself." I was 
assured that she repeated these words often, and pro- 
nounced them as long as she had strength to do it. See- 
ing that the moment of her exit had arrived, she said : 
'*Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit;'' Domine, 
in manus tuas commendo sjjiritum meum. And as she 
had so long desired, that devout soul was freed from its 
captivity and in an indissoluble and eternal union, to the 
Spouse whom she had so ardently loved, in the year of 
our Lord, 1380, on Sunday, the 29th of April, at the hour 
of Tierce. I was at that instant in Genes, and her soul 
communicated to mine, in some way, what I have re- 
counted above, and which she enjoined me to repeat. 1 
call to witness Him who can neither deceive nor be de- 
ceived ; but then my darkened understanding did not 
comprehend whence came the words, the sense of which I 
so completely seized. I was at the time fulfilling at 
Genes my functions of Provincial ; it was the moment of 
the Chapter which was to be held at Bologna for the 
election of a General, and I was making arragements 
to set out with some Religious. We were to go by sea 



276 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

as far as Pisa, and thence repair to Bologna, as we did 
in efifect. We had hired a vessel and were awaiting a 
favorable wind. 

The same morning in which the Blessed Catharine ex- 
pired, I had gone to the Church, to celebrate the festival 
of St. Peter, the martyr. After saying Mass, I went 
again up to the dormitory to prepare my little bundle for 
my prospective journey ; when passing before an image 
of the Blessed Virgin, I said in an undertone, according 
to the custom of the Religious, the Ave Mai'ia, and I re- 
mained there kneeling for a few moments. I then heard 
a voice which was not in the air, and which pronounced 
words which seized me mentally but not orally ; and never- 
theless I perceived them more distinctly within me than 
if they had come to me exteriorly. I know not by 
what other title to designate this method of communica- 
tion, if we may call voice that which is destitute of sound. 
This voice uttered these words or presented them to my 
mind: "Fear not, I am here for your sake; I am in 
heaven for you : 1 will protect and defend you ; be tran- 
quil, and fear naught, I am here for you.^^ These 
interior words threw me into great trouble, and I endeav- 
ored to ascertain what this promised assistance could 
mean. I could not, at that moment, attribute them to 
any other than to the Blessed Virgin whom I was saluting; 
but I dared not think so, because of my unworthiness. I 
imagined that some terrible calamity was about to befal 
me, and that I as was imploring the Mother of mercy the 
constant comforter of the afflicted, she designed by this 
consoling promise to warn and prepare me to support 
courageously the coming event. I suspected that as I 
had preached at Genes a crusade against the schismat- 
ics, there might be some among them awaiting an oppor- 



HER DEATH. 27 Y 

tunity to injure me and mine. I endeavored thus to 
comprehend that prodigy which God mercifully granted 
me by the soul of his Spouse, to support my weakness ; 
and in relating these circumstance, I discover more 
reason for experiencing a sentiment of shame than of 
vanity. 

The following vision was presented to a Roman lady, 
at the instant in which Catharine expired ; she related it 
to me herself, and I do not lightly give credit to her 
recital, having been acquainted with her conscience and 
her life, during more than twenty years. 

There dwelt in Rome a Lady, the mother of two sons, 
and whose name was Semia. Previous to her husband's 
death, and still more perfectly after it, she consecrated 
herself to the service of God and devoted herself wholly 
to prayer and the visiting of Churches. She had a habit 
of rising during the night for Matins but yielded to a 
sort of half-sleep after, so as to be more capable of 
accomplishing the pious pilgrimages of the day. When 
Catharine arrived at Rome, the Lady was informed of her 
virtues by myself and others ; she visited her and became 
so captivated with the charms of her society, that she 
determined to enjoy them continually, but on account of 
her exercise of piety and her sons who were entitled to 
her care, several days sometimes intervened between her 
opportunities of seeing Catharine ; and besides, she was 
not aware of her being seriously ill at that time. 

In the night preceding the morning of our Saint's 
death, Semia arose, to pray as usual ; and when her 
prayer was concluded, she reflected that as it was Sunday 
she ought to rise earlier than ordinary, so as to attend the 
solemn High Mass, and see to the preparation of the 
morning repast of her children. She therefore laid down, 

24 



278 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

intending to catch a few moments of repose and then get 
up, and in consequence of thus charging her mind, even 
while dozing she was thinking of rising. Whilst in her 
partial sleep as she was saying to herself, '' I must leave 
my bed in order to be in time for the service in the 
Church,^' she saw a very beautiful child apparently 
eight or ten years of age. This child said to her: ^' I 
do not wish you to rise until you have seen what I 
intend showing you." Ravished with the charms of 
the child, but yet intent upon hearing Mass, Semia 
answered ; '' Suffer me, dear one, to get up, because to- 
day we must not neglect High Mass.'' The child said : 
"I cannot positively suffer you to arise before you see 
the wonders that I have to exhibit to you, being commis- 
sioned by Almighty God. " Audit seemed to her that 
the child drew her from the bed and conducted her into a 
spacious place which was shaped like a Church ; at one 
extremity of it there was a tabernacle of exquisitely burn- 
ished silver, but it was closed. '' Wait a little, " said the 
infant, ''and you shall behold what is within the tabernacle; '' 
and directly another little child, similar to the first, 
brought a ladder to the silver tabernacle which occupied 
a lofty elevation and opened the door of it with a golden 
key. As soon as it was unclosed, Semia who was looking, 
perceived a young girl very magnificently and richly 
adorned : her robe was of dazzling whiteness and plenti- 
fully ornamented with precious stones. She wore three 
superb crowns on her head so w^ell arranged that the three 
could each be clearly discerned. The inferior crown was 
of silver, white as driven snow ; the second was of silver 
mingled with gold and shone like red materials woven 
with golden threads ; ihe third was of purest, finest gold 
bestrown with pearls and precious stones. At this 



HER DEATH. 2T9 

spectacle ; Semia wondered who this richly dressed child 
could be, and on considering her very attentively, she 
recognized distinctly Catharine of Sienna ; but knowing 
her to be much older than the figure represented in this 
vision, she suspected it might mean some other. The 
child that first appeared to her, inquired whether she 
recognized her that she saw. ' ' It is indeed, " said Semia, 
^^the countenance of Catharine of Sienna, but it is not 
her age.'' As she continued earnestly gazing on her, 
the person in the tabernacle smiled and said to the two 
children: '' You see that she does not recognize me.'' 
Then advanced four more children similar to the two first, 
they bore a species of bier formed like a bed, and 
draperied around with rich purple, precious cloths, and 
when they had deposited it near the tabernacle, they 
mounted with speed and took in their arms the little 
crowned maiden, and laid her on the bed that they had 
brought. Then the youthful maiden said, '' Allow me to 
go to that lady who is looking at me and does not recog- 
nize with certainty who I am." And directly she 
appeared to approach her as if by flying, and said, " I am 
Catharine of Sienna, Semia." She rejoined '' What, are 
you mother Catharine ? ^' '' Yes," answered she ; '* but 
consider well what you now see and what you are about 
to see. " 

At these words, she was conducted by the six children 
to the bed, and was raised on it towards heaven. Whilst 
Semia saw her thus gradually mounting, she suddenly 
beheld a throne in Heaven ; and on that throne a King 
crowned and covered with jewels, holding in his right 
hand an opened book ; the children who bore the lovely 
Virgin elevated her to the very steps of the throne and 
to the feet of the King ; and instantaneously the virgin 



280 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

cast herself at the feet of the King and adored him. 
Then the King said : * * Welcome dear Spouse and 
cherished daughter, Catharine.'^ At the order of the 
King, she raised her head and read in the open book, 
during sufficient time to say devoutly the *' Lord's 
Prayer ;'' then, on a new signal from the King, she 
arose and took a position near to the throne, awaiting 
the Queen who was advancing at the head of a numerous 
group of virgins. At her approach, our Saint, hastened 
to descend the steps and prostrate before her : after which 
the Queen of Heaven taking her by the hand said : 
*' Welcome Catharine, my daughter;'' and raising her 
up gave her the kiss of peace. She offered a second act 
of homage to the Queen by his command, and then she 
moved towards the other virgins, and all joyfully received 
her, giving her the '' kiss of peace. " 

Whilst all this was transacting, Semia cried out : ** O 
my Sovereign Lady, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
intercede for me ! St. Mary Magdalen, St. Catharine, 
St. Agnes, St. Margaret, pray for us !" She informed 
me that, although this vision seemed to be in heaven, she 
distinguished all the actors perfectly, and recognized not 
only the Blessed Mother of God, but also the other 
Yirgins, each in her turn. She called each one by her 
name, for they severally bore the tokens of their martyr- 
dom : St. Catharine her wheel ; St. Margaret, a dragon 
beneath her feet, and St. Agatha her scarred bosom, and 
in like manner the others. In fine, amid the felicitations of 
all those virgins, the youthful Catharine was placed, and 
crowned with glory. 

When Semia awoke and opened her eyes, she saw that 
the sun already Indicated on the horizon the hour of 
Tierce ; she was grieved on account of the Mass she de- 



HER DEATH. 281 

sired to hear, and the repast which was to be prepared 
for her children ; but yet she could not refrain from ment- 
ally inquiring what this vision could signify ? She did not 
know, and could not persuade herself to believe that 
Catharine was deceased, although she knew her to be 
feeble. Her occupations had prevented her from seeing 
her during several days, and she had often known her to 
recover from even alarming sufferings ; she concluded 
therefore that Catharine might have been favored with 
some extraordinary ecstacy. She also feared on account 
of the lateness of the hour, she had lost the opportunity of 
hearing Mass that day, and suspected Satan of intending 
to cause her to violate the precept of the Church in re- 
ference to the sanctification of the Sabbath ; she hurriedly 
placed her repast on the fire and hastened to the 
parish churcl>, saying within herself; ^'If I lose Mass, it 
will be a proof that this vision comes from Satan ; but 
if I can obtain the hearing of Mass, I shall believe that 
I owe it to the pious Mother Catharine." On arriving 
at the Church they were singing the Offertory ; she 
became sad ; and said ''Ah ! unhappy me, the demon has 
deceived me." She returned home instantly, attended 
quickly to her domestic affairs and prepared to go to 
other churches, so as to be present at the entire Mass. 

Whilst thus occupied at home, she heard a bell that 
announced Mass in a neighboring monastery of Nuns ; 
she joyfully hastened there, leaving the vegetables as she 
had prepared them, and without putting them into the 
soup. She locked the door, leaving no one in the 
house, found the Mass which was just commencing, and 
joyfully said to herself — Satan did not deceive me as I 
fancied. Only she regretted the vexation of her sons, 
who had attained a certain age, knowing certainly that 

24* 



282 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

their dinner would not be ready and that there would be 
no more time for her to prepare it. She heard the 
whole high Mass. When it was ended, she returned 
home and met her sons who said: *' Mother it is very 
late, please arrange it, so that we can have our dinner.'' 
She replied : " Dear children, wait a short time, and all 
will be ready." She ran home, found the door shut as 
she left it, and opened it so as to finish very quickly what 
remained to be done : the meat and vegetables were all 
prepared and served, and naught remained but for them 
to take their seats at the table. Semia was filled with 
amazement, and determined to go directly after dinner and 
see Catharine whom she believed yet living, in order to 
give her a full account. She called her two sons who 
were near, and whilst they were dining, she was absorbed 
with the idea of her vision. The youths who were not 
aware of what had happened found their repast better 
than common; but she could only say interiorly: ''0 
beloved Mother ! you came, even though the doors were 
closed, to dress and prepare my dinner. I see that you 
are holy, and an acceptable servant before God." 

On this verv account, she had not the slio:htest sus- 
picion of Catharine's death, and as soon as her sons had 
withdrawn, she ran to the house of our Saint and 
knocked at the door as usual ; but no one answered. 
The neigbors informed her that Catharine had been visit- 
ing the churches and that there was no one there ; she 
believed it, and went away. The truth was, that all those 
who were within mourned their mother and concealed her 
death, because they desired to avoid the rumor getting 
abroad as they would be distracted in their sorrow and 
might not tranquilly discuss what ought to be done. In 
fine, it was decided that on the morrow the body of 



HER DEATH. 283 

Catharine should be transferred to the church of Preaching 
Friars, called Ste, Marie'de-la-Minerve and that there 
her funeral should be celebrated. 

As soon as the corpse of Catharine was borne to the 
church the whole city of Rome became aware of it, and 
a multitude collected from every side ; they moved for- 
ward like turbulent waves to touch her garments and her 
feet, her spiritual sons and daughters feared that they 
would divide her body on the spot, and they consequently 
placed it behind the grate of the chapel of St. Dominic. 
Semia, by accident went also to the church, and beholding 
such an agitation, asked its cause. Directly she heard that 
Catharine was dead, and that it was she that attracted 
the crowd, she advanced sobbing to the place where the 
body of Catharine was exposed, and said to Catharine's 
spiritual daughters : '* How cruel to have concealed from 
me the decease of my beloved Mother ! Why did you 
not summon me to assist at her last moments V^ And as 
they were offering their excuses she inquired at what 
time she expired. They replied yesterday about the hour 
of Tierce she gave up her soul to her Creator. Semia 
immediately cried: *^I saw her; I saw my beloved 
Mother quitting her body : the angels bore her to Hea- 
ven in my presence ; she had three precious crowns, and 
her raiment was resplendently white. I know now that 
God sent me an angel and showed me the death of mo- 
ther Catharine. mother I mother ! how is it that I 
did not comprehend, during that vision, that you were 
quitting the earth. '' And Semia then gave a full de- 
scription of her vision to the disciples of Catharine who 
were shielding her corpse by their presence. 



CHAPTER V. 

SOME PRODIGIES AKD MIRACLES WHICH THE LORD ACCOMPLISHED AFTER 
CATHARINE'S DEATH, BY HER KNTERCESSIOX. 

Catharine's mortal pilgrimage was terminated ; but 
the divine energy that had accompanied her during life, 
manifested the greatest of her merits, after her decease. 
Almost all the people of Rome collected spontaneously at 
the Church in which her corpse was exposed, desirous of 
venerating her remains and of recommending themselves 
to her prayers. Many persons brought their sick who 
requested to be cured by the intercession of Catharine ; 
and God did not deceive their expectations. I intend 
relating what I know on this subject from the informations 
of others and by my own observations. 

A Sister of the Third Order of St. Francis, called 
Dominica, was so infirm in one arm that during six 
months previous to Catharine's demise she could not use 
it ; she came to the church, and being unable to 
approach her body on account of the crowd, she untied 
her veil, and requested that it might touch the Saint's 
remains ; when they returned it to her, she put the veil 
under her arm, and it was promptly cured. She instantly 
exclaimed ; *' See ! by the merits of the Saint I am freed 
from a malady pronounced incurable and which was 
destroying my arms." In consequence the eagerness of 
the multitude increased ; they brought her the sick from 
all quarters, in hopes that they might succeed in touching 
the '* hem of her garmejiis,^^ 



MIRACLES AFTER HER DEATH. 285 

Among others they brought, a little child of four years 
of age, the nerves of whose neck were so drawn, that his 
head rested on his shoulder, without his being able to raise 
it ; they carried him near the body, and as soon as Cath- 
arine's virginal hand was applied to the diseased portion, 
and they had put around his neck a veil which she had 
worn, favorable symptoms commenced, and very soon his 
head was straitened and the restoration perfect. During 
three days it was found impossible to conclude the Inter- 
ment on account of the miracles which were performed ; 
and during those three days, there was such an affluence 
of people that a Doctor in Theology who had ascended 
the pulpit, intending to preach her funeral discourse, 
could never obtain sufficient calm to allow him to proceed ; 
he said merely to those who were listening to him : ''this 
privileged Virgin has no need of our preaching and 
eulogy ; she speaks, and declares it convincingly herself. '' 
And he came down, without having even begun his 
sermon. 

A Roman named Lucuis of Connarola, had an infir- 
mity where medicine was powerless to effect a cure. His 
thigh and his leg were in such a condition, that even with 
the aid of a crutch he could not succeed in walking more 
than a few steps. Having heard of all the miracles that 
God performed through Catharine's intercession, he 
dragged himself with much difficulty as far as the Church 
and caused himself to be conducted near the holy body ; 
he with deep devotion placed Catharine's hand on the leg 
hitherto so weak and feeble, and instantly he felt his 
strength and energy revive ; before retiring he was 
perfectly cured. 

A young girl named E-atozzola had her face so attacked 
by a horrible leprosy that her nose and upper lip offered 



286 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

one shocking wound, she, also, was attracted to the church 
by the reports. As she endeavored to approach the body 
she was repulsed several times ; at length by repeated 
instances she succeeded in entering, and in her ardent 
desire to be relieved, she not only applied her diseased 
face to Catharire's hands and feet, but also to her face : 
she instantly perceived her leprosy diminish, and she was 
soon so perfectly restored that her countenance did not 
even retain one scar. 

A Roman named Cyprius aud his wife Leila had a 
daughter who from infancy had suffered with asthma, and 
the physicians had pronounced her case iucurable. The 
parents having learned the miracles which were performed 
applied with fervor to Catharine and put a veil and a 
Pater Noster that had touched her body on their child ; 
wonderful to relate, scarcely had she, that was despaired 
of, touched these objects, than she was restored to her 
primitive health. 

An inhabitant of Rome, named Antoine Sello, who 
was attached to the church of the Prince of the Apostles, 
heard the prodigies worked by Catharine much talked 
about : he was sick from excess of labor, and walked with 
great difficulty ; the remedies of physicians had proved 
inadequate, but he had procured himself a little relief. 
Inspired by all that he heard, he devoutly recommended 
himself to the Saint and promised to accomplish a vow, 
if he were cured through her merits. Scarcely had he 
drawn up the formula of the Yow than he was completely 
delivered from his sufferings ; he was no longer conscious 
of them, walked with ease, and went to visit the remains 
of his benefactress ; he accomplished the promise or vow 
which he had taken, and gives an account to all that are 



MIRACLES AFTER HER DEATH. 287 

curious to hear the particulars of the grace wnich he 
obtained. 

There was a pious lady, Paula by name who had 
been very intimate with Catharine ; she was not only her 
friend, but had offered her hospitality together with her 
followers. At the moment of Catharine's death, she was 
cruelly tormented by the gout and also with an acute 
pain in the side. As these two maladies demanded 
different kinds of treatment, the unfortunate patient 
suffered greatly and was in danger of death. After the 
death of Catharine she earnestly implored the favor of 
having something that had touched her body ; it was 
given to her in the evening and on the following morning, 
she was able to rise from the bed on which she had been 
extended during four months ; she walked with as much 
facility as before the commencement of her illness : I 
received this account from herself at Rome. 

When Catharine's body was interred, the divine power 
it possessed of curing diseases was in no wise weakened ; 
it rather augmented. A Roman named Veri or Neri, 
had a little child who could not stand erect upon his legs ; 
he conducted him to Catharine's tomb, and hardly had 
he placed him on it, than his feet and legs grew strong, 
and the little fellow walked as though he had always 
eujoyed good health. 

Jean de Tozo, had a disgusting and horrible disease 
in the eyes : worms crawled out of one of them ; he 
took a vow to the Virgin of Sienna and was instantly 
relieved. He went to her tomb, narrated a description 
of the cure he had obtained, and deposited an ex- 
voto in wax as is customary. A German lady who 
came on a pilgrimage, and whose name they neglected 
retaining, suffered so much and so long with her eyes, 



288 LIFE OF STe CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

that she had almost lost her sight and entertained no 
hope of cure. She recommended herself piously to Cath- 
arine, and gradually recovered her sight without the help 
of any remedy. 

A lady of Rome named Maria, endured such excru- 
ciating pains in the head that she lost an eye, 
notwithstanding all the efforts of her attendant physicians : 
she became so sad on this account and felt such shame 
that she remained at home aud declined seeing any one. 
Having been informed of Catharine's miracles, she 
devoutly recommended herself to her intercession. The 
succeeding night the Saint appeared to the domestic of 
that lady, saying: ^* Let your mistress Maria adopt no 
more remedies, but go every morning and hear the Divine 
Office and she will be healed." The servant gave her 
commission, and her mistress obeyed Catharine ^s injunction; 
the pain ceased directly ; she began to use the eye that 
had lost its sight, and persevering in the pious exercise 
that had been indicated, she was restored to sight and 
general corporal health. The Reader should here remark 
what the Blessed Catharine did : she m'^ght have cured 
her who invoked help immediately, but she was desirous 
of granting more than was asked in imitation of our 
Saviour who never healed the body without curing the 
soul. To him who came to implore health, he first 
remitted his sins, by saying ; Confide ^ fili: remittuiitur 
tibi peccata tua. (Matth. ix. 2.) 

A youth called Jacques, son of the Roman citizen 
Pierre de Niccolo, was grievously ill : all remedies had 
failed and the physicians thought that, according to the 
laws of nature, his end was near ; he recommended 
himself devoutly to the Blessed Catharine ; he became 



MIRACLES AFTER HER DEATH. 289 

better at the very moment, and a few days after, was in 
perfect health. 

The uoble and pious Lady Jeanne Ilpermi was particu- 
larly acquainted with Catharine during her life-time ; the 
miracles she saw inspired her with an exalted idea of her 
sanctity, and she counseled all the sick to have recourse 
to her intercession. One day this lady's son, was running 
imprudently on the terrace (or flat-roof) of the house and 
fell without any one being able to offer him any 
assistance ; his mother seeing him fall cried with all her 
strength : *^ St. Catharine protect my son ! '' The child 
who was exposed either to be killed or have his limbs 
broken, had not the slightest bruise, or wound. The 
mother descended to him promptly, thanked God and 
Catharine also, whose holy influence she proclaimed to 
every one. 

There was another female who gained a livelihood by 
serving others ; her name was JBuona Giovanni. One 
time as she was washing a counterpane on the shore of the 
Tiber, it escaped from her hands and was drawn off 
rapidly by the current of water ; as Buona was poor, and 
unable to reimburse its value, she attempted to get it 
back, and reaching too far in an effort to catch it, she 
was herself drawn into the river ; there was no one near 
to assist her ; but she recollected the miracles daily accom- 
plished in the city, by Catharine's intercession. She in- 
voked Catharine at once ; and her prayer was heard, for 
she felt herself elevated above the water, and as though 
waves had ceased flowing, she quitted the stream with the 
coverlid, and attained the shore without difficulty. 

Almighty God glorified by these miracles and by others, 
his favored Spouse, previous to my return to Rome ; 
later, I was recalled there, when I received the, for (me, 



290 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

too heavy) charge of General Master of the Order of 
Preaching Friars. Then my Brethren and Sisters who 
had been Catharine's spiritual children related to me all 
that I have written. There was, however, one miracle 
which took place after my arrival ; I was a partial witness 
of it, and I do not like to pass it in silence. 

I was at Rome, and had the sacred remains of Catha- 
rine transferred on the very day on which she had foretold 
it, several years beforehand. One of my friends, a physi- 
cian, styled M. Jacques de-Sainte-Marie-de-la-Rotonde, 
informed me that a young man of the city, named Nicho- 
las, a son-in-law of Cintio Yancancini, was so alarmingly 
ill of the quinsy, that he saw no remedy ; other persons 
told me that the youth was at the point of death ; but 
Alessia, Catharine's associate, liaving heard it, and being 
aware that Cintio, and all her household, had been very 
devoted to, and much cherished by Catharine, repaired 
without delay to the young man, carrying with her one of 
the teeth of Catharine, which she regarded as a precious 
relic. She found the patient in extremities ; the inflam- 
rnation impeded respiration. She applied the tooth to 
the throat, and instantly there was heard a noise similar 
to the detatching of a stone ; the abscess opened, the in- 
valid raised his head and ejected from his mouth a great 
quantity of corrupted matter ; in a short time he was per- 
fectly restored, returning thanks to God and to the saint, 
whose tooth had delivered him from the teeth of the grim 
messenger Death. This prodigy surprised people in 
general and above all the physicians who understood 
more clearly than the others, the imminent danger in 
which he was placed. The young Nicholas relates pub- 
licly what happened to him, so much so, that once while 
preaching and telling some miracles performed by the 



MIRACLES ATTER HER DEATH. 291 

Saint, and among others this one, he arose in the midst 
of the assemby and said : '' Father what yoa advance is 
correct ; I am the subject of that miracle." 

To the above wonders, I could add many others of 
which no note has been taken ; the proof is in the num- 
bers of waxen ex-voto offered at her tomb. But these 
offerings of homage, or of pious gratitude, have been 
gradually removed. I know not whether to accuse the 
inhabitants of Rome, or foreigners, of which the city is 
continually full, but the purloiners are either already 
punished or will soon be. For myself, I confess in the 
presence of God, of Angels and of all the Faithful, that 
many persons have sought me, in order to unfold to me 
the wonderful favors that they have received through Blessed 
Catharine's intercession, and it is my fault if these circum- 
stances have remained buried in forgetfulness — I neglected 
to write them. I had designated a notary to do it, but 
he did not fulfill my intentions ; but I remember one event 
that I cannot well conceal. At the time in which Queen 
Jeanne (Joan) sent against Rome Rinaldo des Ursins, at 
the head of armed men, to arrest the Sovereign Pontiff, 
Urban YI., several inhabitants were taken by the enemy. 
Some were fastened to trees, and thus abandoned to a 
cruel death ; others were led to the camp loaded with 
irons, hoping to procure a ransom. I have learned from 
those who were delivered, that as soon as they invoked 
Catharine, they felt their chains drop, without human 
help. One among others informed me that after praying 
he found himself disencumbered from the bonds by which 
the enemy had attached him to a tree, and that he had 
returned to Rome, supplicating Catharine, without meet- 
ing any one to arrest him. 

1 remember to have heard many miracles of this kind 



292 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA 

related ; but my memory fades with years, and the pecu- 
liar details escape me. I beseech the reader to collect, 
notwithstanding the lengthened and imperfect details of 
this work, both flowers and fruit from this holy life, 
and to shun as they would a pestilence, the indifference 
of the lukewarm, and the malice of calumniators. I 
desire before concluding, to speak of Catharine's patience. 
The Church militant admires this virtue in her Saints 
more than she does miracles ; I therefore consecrate a 
chapter to this subject. Catharine will obtain for me in 
return a grace from her heavenly Spouse, who lives and 
reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost, world with- 
out end. Amen. 



CHAPTER VI. 

OP THE GREAT PATIENCE THAT CATHARINE MANIFESTED IN ALL HER 
ACTIONS, FROM HER INFANCY UNTIL HER DEATH. THIS CHAPTER WILL 
BE A SORT OF CONDENSED STATEMENT OF HER WHOLE LIFE. 

The Eternal Truth, incarnate for our salvation says ; Qui 
in corde bono et optimo audientes verbum retinent, et 
fructum afferunt in paiientia, (St. Luke. viii. 15.) 
*' Who in a good and very good heart, hearing the word 
with patience, keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience. '' 
In his Book of Dialogues, St. Gregory said : ^' I think 
that the virtue of patience, is above prodigies and 
miracles : Ego virtutem patientice signis et miraculis 
puto majorem. The Apostle St. James says in his 
canonical Jbjpistle (St. J. i. 4,) Patientia opus perfectum. 
Patience hath a perfect work. She is not the chief and the 
queen of virtues ; but according to the testimony of the 
Apostle, she is the inseparable companion of that virtue 
which is the greatest, and shall never fail. When 
speaking of Charity, St. Paul said : '' Charity is patient, 
is kind ; charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely ; is 
not puffed up.'' (I. Cor. xiii. 4.) Hence, when the 
Church examines the lives of her Saints, she does not 
apply her principal attention to the prodigies they have 
performed, for two reasons: 1. The wicked have accom- 
plished and still effect prodigies which resemble miracles, 
which are not such, as those of the Magicians of Pharaoh: 
Anti -Christ and his followers will do the same in their 
time. 2. Some have actually performed miracles by the 

help of divine power, but have afterwards been repro- 

( 293 ) 



294 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

bate like Judas, and to those who, according to the Gospel 
shall at the last judgment say : Lord have we not 
performed miracles in thy Name ; it will be answer- 
ed *' Withdraw from me, ye workers of iniquity.''^ 
Consequently, in accordance with the doctrine of Divines, 
prodigies and miracles cannot of themselves, assure to 
the church militant, the eternal glory of those who 
performed them, though they are nevertheless a strong 
indication of their sanctity, especially when they happen 
after their decease ; but even those do not give a definite 
certitude, because God in his compassion, may recom- 
pense the faith of those who pray, without intending to 
manifest the glory of those whom they supplicate. 

When the Church wishes to ascertain the merits of the 
Saints, she informs herself of their lives, and actions on 
earth. Her Divine Spouse taught her this, when he said 
*' By their fruits you will know them, for a had tree 
cannot produce good fruit, nor a good tree evilfimit.^^ 
(St. Matth. vii. 18.) Good fruits are the works of charity 
towards God and towards the neighbour. Those works 
are agreeable to God, and consequently insupportable to 
Satan, who makes untiring efforts to hinder them, either 
in himself, or by men who belong to him in the world. 
The Saints who are faithful and who persevere, have 
necessarily practiced patience which preserved them iu 
the love of God and of the neighbor, notwithstanding all 
imaginable persecutions. Our Lord said to his disciples ; 
in patientia vestra possidebitis animas vestras, *^iu 
your patience you shall preserve your souls. ^' (St. Luke 
xxi. 19.) And that is, according to the Apostle, the firs^ 
condition of Charity. Charity is patient; charitas 
patiens est. (1. Cor. xiii. 4.) Therefore this point is 
greatly insisted upon in the canonization of the Saints ] 



HER GREAT PATIENCE. 295 

their deeds are more exactly scrutinized than their 
miracles : and among their actions, their fruits of 
patience are particularly sought, because they prove 
charity and sanctity more than all others. 

My intention in writing this volume, being to make 
known Catharine's sanctity to the Catholic Church and 
those who govern it, I thought that I would complete my 
work by adding a chapter on the Patience of Catharine, 
it having been the glory of her life. I will recapitulate her 
entire annals, and I shall thus prove useful to a class of 
readers who find an hour longer than a day, when pious 
subjects are in question, while a day seems to them to fly 
more rapidly than an hour when they are occupied in 
perusing fables. 

Patience is exercised in enduring things opposite ; its 
very name indicates it, since it is derived from patir^ to 
suffer. The things contrary to man may be divided into 
two classes, according to their double nature ; those 
which affect the mind, and those which affect the body. 

The good possessed by man is separated by philosophers 
into three classes : the agreeable, useful and honorable^ 
and it is by the continued privation of these blessings that 
patience is exercised. The agreeable comprehends health, 
the pleasures of the table, of the toilette, with whatever 
flatters nature, and in particular sensuality. The useful 
comprehends riches, houses, lands, money, animals, lux- 
ury, parentage and kindred, with domestics and whatever 
serves to the material existence. The honorable embraces 
whatever gives man consideration among his equals : as 
a good, or a renowned name, a great reputation, distin- 
guished friends, recognized abilities, and the means of 
doing good. 

Among the things that I have enumerated, some are 



296 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

culpable and must be renounced ; some are hindrances to 
perfection, and must be avoided and despised ; others 
are allowed and are even necessary sometimes, and their 
privation must be supported patiently. We shall consider 
Catharine's conduct in all these, pursuing the order that 
we have selected. The Saint understood that patience is 
not serviceable when we do not first shun what is forbid- 
den, as all sensual pleasures ; hence, at a tender age, she 
avoided them with fortitude and prudence. It was in 
consequence of a remarkable vision with which she was 
favored at six years of age, when the Lord appeared to 
her with his chief Apostles, and blessed her with his 
kingly hand, and gave her a look of tender affection. Her 
soul was then filled with such perfect love, that she 
abandoned the habits of infancy, and consecrated herself, 
notwithstanding the weakness of her years to penance and 
to meditation. So rapid was her progress that the follow- 
ing year, namely, her seventh, she made a Vow of per- 
petual chastity, in presence of the Blessed Yirgin, after 
having maturely reflected and prayed much. 

As the pious child had understood that there was 
nothing more necessary for preserving her virginity than 
sobriety and mortification in her diet, she applied to that 
at a tender age, and finished by practising it with a mar- 
velous perfection. She began by depriving herself of 
meat and then renounced it wholly ; the wine which she 
drank was mingled with so much water that it lost its 
taste ; at fifteen she abstained from it completely, and 
refused all food except bread and vegetables ; in fine, at 
the age of tw^enty, she retrenched bread, and supported 
her body with uncooked herbs ; she did so, until God 
granted her the favor of living without taking any food ; 
and this took place, if 1 am not deceived, at the age of 



HER GREAT PATIENCE. 297 

twenty-five or twenty-six. I have declared the murmurs 
that were excited against this extraordinary state, which 
she then endured and with admirable patience. 

Having thus retrenched, by abstinence and purity, 
against the pleasures of sense, Catharine was deprived 
by others of many things permitted and even desirable. 
Some trials gave her a veritable joy, but there were others 
that afflicted her profoundly. Among her relatives and 
friends, many were an occasion of pain from her infancy 
until her death. Her mother and brothers in order 'to 
force her to marry, took away her room, and obliged her 
to perform the vilest employments of the kitchen, so as to 
prevent her from praying and meditating. She remained 
fixed and immoveable in her resolutions ; not only the 
privation of her cell, and the services of the house did 
not induce her to neglect ordinary prayers, but she daily 
increased them, until she triumphed. The demon was 
intent upon hindering her austerities, the length of her 
vigils and the hardness of her bed ; he excited her mother 
Lapa against her, we may say, even to rage ; but slie^ 
armed with invincible patience, and wonderful discretion, 
softened her mother's anger, while continuing her vigorous 
penances. 

The enemy of salvation sought by all possible means to 
deprive that holy soul of the consolations and favors of 
her divine Spouse, or at least to distract her from them 
for a time ; but she triumphed over her attacks by fervor ; 
she disconcerted his snares and projects by her wisdom, 
and confounded him by her perseverance. The evil spirit 
endeavored to induce her to forget her Vow, by means 
of her sister-in-law, who succeeded in inspiring her with 
a kind of particularity in the arrangement of her hair 
and in her toilette. God permitted this for her good, as 



293 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

I have shown in the fourth Chapter of the First Part 
lie afterwards tormented her by temptations and even by 
false visions. 

One day when she was praying before a Crucifix the 
demon presented himself holding a robe of rich silk with 
which he desired to clothe her. She repulsed it with 
contempt, and armed herself with the sign of the Cross ; 
the devil disappeared, but left in her mind a temptation 
to vanity, in adorning her person, and she w^as extremely 
troubled by it ; but she remembered the vow of virginity 
that she had contracted, and said to our Saviour : '* Be- 
loved Spouse, thou knowest that I never desired any 
other spouse than thee ; assist me to triumph over these 
temptations ; I do not ask thee to remove them, but only 
deign in thy mercy never to permit me to yield. '^ She 
had scarcely terminated this prayer, than the Mother of 
God, the Queen of Heaven, appeared to her, and it 
seemed to her that she drew from the side of her crucified 
Son, a magnificent robe, w^iich she embroidered with her 
own hand, setting it with dazzling and priceless gems ; 
she clothed her with this robe, saying: ^'Know, my 
daughter, that the garments which come from the side of 
my Son surpass all other garments in brightness and 
beauty.^' The temptation vanished immediately, and the 
Saint was filled with heavenly consolation. 

The devil, seeing that he could not lead her to be less 
fervent in keeping her resolutions, strove to render them 
useless during a period of time, and aided himself by 
several individuals. He employed her mother, who con- 
ducted her to the Baths, so as to oblige her to suspend 
her austerities ; but Catharine contrived to find ruder 
mortifications than she practiced in her cell, by exposing 
her body to boiling water Deficiency of light 



HER GREAT PATIENCE. 299 

ill her directors, and in the Prioresses of the ''Third 
Order," also caused her much suffering. They hindered 
her from confessing as much as she desired to do, and 
constrained her in the exercises of piety which she loved 
the most. Their understanding was incapable of compre- 
hending them ; they condemned light because they were 
in darkness, and they wished to take measure of the 
mountain peaks, without leaving the shades of their hum- 
ble valleys. 

The following fact will show the extent of her patience. 
It will redound to the shame of a few Religious, but it is 
better to publish it than to be silent concerning the gifts 
that the Holy Ghost lavished on that faithful soul. 

Catharine could scarcely perform any public exercise 
of piety, without exciting a calumny, and drawing upon 
herself the persecutions of those same individuals who 
ought to have defended and encouraged her ; and let us 
not be astonished : Religious who have not perfectly over- 
come their self-love, allow their jealousy to carry them 
farther than persons in the world. As the Sisters of 
Penance saw Catharine, yet so young, surpassing all the 
others by the austerity of her life, the severity of morals, 
and the fervor of her prayer and a sublime contemplation, 
some among them were seduced by Satan, and began 
through envy to censure her conduct, and denounce her 
to some Religious of the Order. If some extolled her 
virtue, and proved it by things evident to all, otherSy 
maintained that she was instigated by an evil spirit. 
Those females, genuine descendants of Eve, acted so 
adroitly that they seduced Adam himself, that is to say, 
the Superiors of the Convent of St. Dominic, who would 
not receive her, refused her holy Communion, and even 
went so far as to deprive her of her Confessor. She sup- 



300 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

ported the whole with patience and without murmuring, 
as though she were not the injured one, and no one ever 
heard her utter the smallest complaint. 

If thej allowed her to approach Communion, they ex- 
acted that she should terminate her prayers directly and 
quit the church, which was wholly impossible ; for, she 
received holy Communion with so much fervor, that she 
lost the use of her senses ; her body became completely 
insensible, and she remained in that state for several 
hours. Those whom the Sisters had misled, became fu- 
rious at this ; they would take her during her ecstacies, 
carry her away in a rough, even brutal manner, and throw 
her down at the Church door as though she were the 
most contemptible of human beings. Her companions 
bathed in tears, remained around her to protect her, ex- 
posed to the burning rays of the noonday sun, and await- 
ing the moment in w^hich she would return to herself. 
Some individuals gave her furious blows with the foot, 
wiiilst she was in ecstasy, and nevertheless she never ut- 
tered a word of reproach : she never even mentioned 
that ill-treatment except to excuse those who made her 
suffer ! But the more she remained patient, amid these 
injuries, the more her divine Spouse, who is justice itself, 
was provoked against her persecutors, and punished them 
with severity. I know this by the Confessor who preceded 
me and from several persons w^orthy pf confidence. 

A woman who gave her a blow with the foot, during 
an ecstasy, was taken, just as she entered her house, with 
agonizing pains, and expired directly, without being 
able to receive the last Sacraments. Another wretch 
also struck her with the foot, and carried her to the door 
of the Church, offering her the grossest injuries; his 
punishment was awful j that man (whom I knew perfectly 



HER GREAT PATIENCE. 301 

well) not only behaved odiously towards Catharine, but 
he even designed to kill her. A few days after, the un- 
happy individual, without any apparent cause, became 
enraged as though he was possessed by the devil ; he 
shrieked continually: *'In mercy help me! see, here 
comes the executioner to cut off my head ! '^ The occu- 
pants of the house were anxious to encourage and comfort 
him, but they soon perceived by his words and gestures 
that he had entirely lost his reason ; they therefore 
watched him closely, because they discovered that he was 
tempted to commit suicide. Some time after, as he 
appeared more calm, the care diminished ; he found 
means of escape, and went like Judas to hang himself ! I 
have this fact from the very person that found his corpse ; 
he was not buried in consecrated ground, but in a ditch, 
as he well merited. 

Catharine had much to suffer in her reputation, and in 
this especially appeared her admirable patience. What 
more precious than the reputation of a Maiden, and what 
more delicate than the honor of a consecrated Yirgin ! It 
was in consideration of this that God would have his 
Mother, the Queen of Virgins protected by a husband in 
the eyes of the world ; and on the Cross, he confided the 
virginity of his Mother to the virginity of St. John. 
Three facts which I have narrated, show Catharine's 
patience and her continual progress in yirtue. The first 
was the story of Tecca, the leaper whom Catharine nursed 
when she was slighted by everybody. I also mentioned 
Palmerina who wore the same religious habit as Catharine 
and who indulged an unjust and implacable hatred 
against her. Perfect charity triumphed in this case ; 
persevering prayer destroyed all the evil that the devil 
had creiited in that poor soul, and grace difi'uscd in ihe 



302 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

heart and on the lips of Catharine was so potent, as to 
save Pahiierina from the flames of perdition. Although 
in those two circumstances, and particularly in the second, 
Catharine's patience is displayed in an admirable manner 
it shone even more brightly in the case of Andrea the 
cancerous woman. 

After having recalled the prodigies of patience of the 
Blessed Catharine, it appears to me beneficial to give 
some details of which I have not yet spoken. Almost all 
the persons who approached her to follow her counsels 
and her examples, afflicted her in some way ; the demon 
thus endeavored to torment her by means of those who 
were dearest to her. Catharine suffered more vexations 
from those whom she directed than from strangers : she 
however triumphed over them by patience. Like an 
immoveable column which the power of the Holy Spirit 
had fixed in Charity, the most violent persecutions could 
not w^eaken her stability ; the words of the wdse man 
might be aptly applied to her : '' She has her everlasting 
foundations on the solid rock, and God's commandments 
are in the heart of the devout woman; '' Fundamenta 
oeterna super petr am solidam et mandata Dei in corde 
muUeris sanctce (Eccl. xxvi. 24.) yes, the soul of Cath- 
arine w^as so established by indissoluble bonds with the 
foundation stone Jesus Christ, that she preserved piously 
within her heart the precepts of God. 

A Religious (man) had been so misled by the devil, 
that he insulted Catharine in the coarsest manner in the 
very presence of her companions. She was so patient 
that she would not allow any exterior sign of trouble to 
appear ; she uttered not a word, and expressly recom- 
mended not to ofi*er the slightest reproach to the culpable 
individual, and not to give him any pain. He therefore. 



HER GREAT PATIENCE. 303 

emboldened by Catharine's meekness, went so far as to 
take the money that had been remitted to her for giving 
alms. The Saint did not swerve from her charity ; she 
would not allow any one of those who were aware of the 
theft to say or do any thing ; but she remained steadfast 
in silence and hope. She finished by vanquishing, and 
thus teaches us, by her words and her. example, to over- 
come ourselves. 

It is quite impossible to describe the patience that 
Catharine exhibited in corporeal infirmities ; she suffered 
a continual and very violent pain in the side, and it was this 
that delivered her father's soul from the anguish of pur- 
gatorial fiames. She had likewise an unintermittiug pain 
in the head, and an acute pain in the breast ; this last 
named torture, commenced on the day that our Lord 
permitted her to take the sufferings of his sacred Passion; 
it remained with her ever after, and she affirmed that it 
surpassed all the others. To these dolors were frequently 
added violent fevers, and yet she never breathed a plaint 
or showed that she was ill. Her countenance bore no 
impress of sadness, and with a gentle and engaging smile, 
she received and consoled those who approached her for 
consultation or conversation. When words would not 
suffice, and fatigue and labor were requisite to promote 
the salvation of the soul, all her infirmities seemed to 
vanish ; she arose and walked as though she were not 
subject to any infirmity. 

What persecutions did not that holy soul endure from 
Satan ! I recount an incident that I witnessed. We 
were returning to Sienna, one day, when she was 
suddenly precipitated from the ass on which she was 
riding into a deep ravine ; I ran, invoking the Blessed 
Virgin, and found her on the ground, laughing and 



304 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

saying ''that it was a blow from the * evil beast ^ ^^ — 
meaning Satan. She seated herself anew ; but scarcely 
had she advanced a few steps than the malign spirit again 
threw her into the dust, and in such manner that she 
found herself directly underneath the animal. She said 
to us laughingly; ''This good mule warms the side in 
which I suffer pain.'' She thus mocked Satan who could 
not succeed in doing her any injury. We drew her from 
the ground, but, we were unwilling to allow her to 
mount the animal anew, and as we were near the city, we 
wished her to walk in the midst of us. Her enemy was not 
yet deterred, he dragged her every way, and if we had 
not sustained her, she would certainly have been over- 
thrown ; bnt she continued to rally the evil spirit on his 
impotence. It was at this time that Catharine effected 
so much good in souls, and the devil showed by his per- 
secutions, the rage which embittered him. 

The incredible sufferings that charity led Catharine to 
undergo, a short time before her death, entitle her (it 
appears to me) to the dignity of martyr. The Blessed 
Anthony thirsted for martyrdom and petitioned it from our 
Lord, who heard him by allowing the demons to beat him 
cruelly, without however taking away his life. Catha- 
rine was frequently beaten, and even found death in the 
last torments which hell obliged her to suffer. It alone 
would be a sufficient proof of her holiness, and for the 
conviction of those who may doubt it, I will cite a fact 
which will show how similar Catharine was to her Spouse, 
at least as to the cause of her sufferings. — I will thus 
terminate this chapter to the glory of the Incarnate 
Truth, to the honor of the virgin Catharine, his Spouse, 
and in opposition to what may be said by the devotees 
of falsehood. 



HER GREAT PATIENCE. 305 

Towards the year 1375, either by the malice of the 
great Sower of tares, or through defect of those in 
charge of the Holy See, or by the pecuniary aid of certain 
Florentines, or by reciprocal arts, the City of Florence, 
which hitherto had ranked among the most devoted 
daughters of the Catholic Church, assembled the enemies 
of the Church and used great efforts to destroy in union 
with them its temporal power ; the Sovereign Pontiff of 
Rome, who commanded in Italy sixty Episcopal Cities 
and a thousand fortified places, was reduced to a few 
meagre, paltry strips of land. Pope Gregory XI 
fulminated against the Florentines terrible decrees which 
caused ^^11 their goods to be seized by the Proprietors of 
the countries with which they carried on commerce. The 
consequences accruing from this chastisement, forced 
them to sue for peace to the Supreme Pontiff, by the 
intermediation of persons whom they knew to be agree- 
aljle to him. It was made known to them, that the 
BlejiSed Catharine, on account of her reputation of 
sanctity, would be perfectly well received by his Holiness ; 
they therefore decided that I should be commissioned by 
Catharine to go to the Holy Father ; then they caused 
her to be conducted to Florence. The chief citizens went 
forth to meet her, and supplicated her to go in person to 
Avignon, and treat with the Holy See. Catharine, 
abounding with love for God and her neighbor, and very 
desirous of promoting the welfare of the church, under- 
took this journey and came to Avignon, v/hcre I was at 
the moment. I acted as interpreter between her and the 
Pope, because the Sovereign Pontiff spoke Latin, and 
she employed the dialect of Tuscany. I can affirm, 
before God and before man, that the Holy Father, in my 

presence and by my mouth committed the treaty of peace 

It)* 



306 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

to the decision of Catharine, saying to her, ^^ In order 
to prove to you that I desire peace, I commit the entire 
negotiation into your hands : only be careful of the 
honor of the Church.''^ 

But some among the individuals who then governed 
Florence, at the same time that they publicly asked for 
peace, secretly plotted against her, and endeavored to 
destroy the temporal power of the Church, and place it 
in an impossibility of obtaining the smallest satisfaction ; 
they owned it to me themselves, when they could fear- 
lessly say aloud what they then carefully concealed. They 
acted as genuine hypocrites, and exhibited these dispo- 
sitions by their conduct towards Catharine. 

When that Saint undertook the long and painful 
journey, they promised to send after her deputies who 
would have orders not to attempt, or do anything 
absolutely, without her counsel. As they delayed long 
in sending those whom they had announced, the Sovereign 
Pontiff was surprised, and said to Catharine; ''Believe 
me, they have deceived and will deceive you : those 
ambasadors will never come, or if they do come, their 
mandate will be useless. " In effect when the ambassdors 
arrived at Avignon, Catharine caused them to come, and 
told them in my presence, the powers that the magistrates 
of Florence had bestowed on her ; she announced to 
them that the Sovereign Pontiff entrusted the peace into 
her hands, and that thus they could if they would, obtain 
favourable conditions. But, they far from responding to 
these advances, pretended that they had no orders to 
treat with her. Catharine then discovered their dis- 
honesty and perceived that the Holy Father had predicted 
correctly : she did not however discontinue her solicitations 



HER GREAT PATIENCE. 30Y 

to Gregory XI. to ask him for them, the clemency of a 
father, rather than the severity of a Judge. 

When the Yicar of Jesus Christ, in conformity with 
Catharine's advice, returned to establish himself at Rome, 
we went back to Italy. Catharine sent me to him with 
several projects, which would have proved very useful to 
the church, had they been carried out. During my 
sojourn there, I was compelled by my Order, to accept 
the charge of Prior of a Koman Convent, which I had 
formerly governed under the pontificate of Urban Y., and 
it became impossible for me to go back to Catharine. 
Before quitting Tuscany, I held an interview with 
Nicholas Soderini, a citizen of Florence, a man most 
faithful to God and the church, and strongly attached to 
Catharine ; we had spoken of the affairs of the Republic, 
and in particular of the ill-will of those who pretended 
to desire reconciliation with the church, and who did all 
they could to prevent peace. As I complained of this 
course of conduct, that excellent man answered me thus : 
* * Be convinced that the people of Florence and every 
honest man in the town desire peace : but some obstinate 
hearts that govern us, offer an obstacle.'' I said : 
** Could there be no remedy applied to this evil ?" He 
rejoined: '^Yes, if some respectable citizens took to 
heart the cause of God, and had an understanding with 
the Guelphs, in order to deprive those intermeddlers of 
their power, for they are enemies of the public good, it 
would be sufficient to remove four or five of them." 
When I went to fulfill my commission to the Sovereign 
Pontiff, I related to him the conversation which I had 
held with Nicholas Soderini. 

I had been occupied several months in fulfilling my 
charge of Prior, and announcing the word of God, when 



308 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

one Sunday morning an envoy of the Pope came to 
inform me that His Holiness awaited my presence at din- 
ner-time. I obeyed this command, and after the repast 
the Holy Father sent for me, and said, '' I am told that if 
Catharine of Sienna repairs to Florence, peace will be 
concluded.'' 1 replied, ''Not only Catharine, but we 
all are ready to obey your Holiness and to suffer, if neces- 
sary, martyrdom." The Holy Father said to me: ''I 
do not desire you should go to Florence, because they 
would maltreat you, but for her, she is a w^oman and they 
venerate her, I do not think she will incur any danger. 
Consider what powers it would be suitable to grant her ; 
present them to-morrow morning for my signature, so 
that this business may be promptly concluded.'' I 
obeyed, and forwarded the letters to the Saint, who sub- 
mitted and set out directly. Arrived at Florence, she 
was received with much honor by those who had remained 
faithful to God and the Church, and with the aid of 
Nicholas Soderini, she held conferences with the well-dis- 
posed citizens, whom she persuaded not to offer longer 
opposition to the Shepherd of their souls, and to be 
reconciled directly with the Yicar of Christ. She was 
also able to confer with the Guelphs, and lead them to 
understand that those who entertained division between 
the Father and the Children, ought to be deprived of 
their functions ; that they w^ere rather the destroyers than 
the governors of the public weal ; that not only peace 
w^as necessary to the preservation of their goods and of 
their lives, but that it was indispensable to their souls' 
salvation. They had actively contributed to stripping 
the Roman Church of her incontestable rights ; and even 
though there were merely questions of private interests, 
they ought before God, and for conscience' sake, to 



HER GREAT PATIENCE. 309 

make restitution of what they had taken, or caused to be 
taken by others. The chief of the party and a great 
number of good citizens surrendered to these considera- 
tions, and asked the Governors of the city to labor for 
peace not merely in word, but by prompt and energetic 
action. 

The opposition was violent, especially among those 
who had been chosen to war against the Church ; they 
were eight in number ; the chiefs of the Guelphs deprived 
one of them of his charge, and succeeded in discarding 
from affairs a few other citizens. But soon serious trou- 
bles declared themselves : they had exiled those who were 
opposed to the peace, many others were so, but only to 
satisfy their private revenge. The number of the ban- 
ished became so considerable that the whole city mur- 
mured : minds were irritated against Catharine, who was 
however a stranger to what was passing ; she even 
complained of these proceedings bitterly, saying and 
causing to be said everywhere, that it was very ill to 
strike so many citizens, and that they ought not, under 
pretext of procuring peace, satisfy their personal and 
individual hatred. 

These excesses increased continually, and disorder 
soon reached its height ; those who had been formerly 
named for commanding the soldiery, collected troops and 
excited the lower classes of the population against the 
authors of all these banishments, and set the whole city 
in revolution ; they succeeded in chasing out those who 
had banished others, they confiscated their goods, burned 
their houses, and even massacred, as I was informed a 
very great number. 

Many innocent persons suiffered, and almost all those 
who desired peace were obligated to become voluntary 



310 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

exiles. Catharine who came to labor to arrange a peace, 
and who had given from the outset merely an advice to 
deprive some few persons who offered an obstacle, was 
consecpieuilj seriously compromised ; the leaders desig- 
nated her to the peo[)le, and the cry w^as everywhere 
heard : " Take that icicked woman and burm he?' alive ; 
let us cut her in pieces, ^^ Those who had received her 
in their houses w^ere frightened, and sent her away 
with all those who accompanied her. Catharine, quite 
sure of her innocence, suffered the whole joyfully for the 
sake of the Holy Catholic Church, and lost nothing of 
her ordinary tranquillity ; she continued cheerful and en- 
couraged her companions. After giving them an exhor- 
tation, she withdrew, in imitation of her Spouse, into a 
place where there was a garden and gave herself to 
prayer. 

While she was praying in that garden with our Lord, 
the satellites of Satan came also in tumult, armed with 
swords and clubs. They cried out : Where is that cursed 
woman— ichere is she P^ Catharine heard them and pre- 
pared herself for martyrdom, as for a delicious banquet. 
She went out before one of those furies who was armed 
with a sword, and who shrieked louder than the others : 
** Where is Catharine V^ She knelt joyously and said 
to him : '' I am Catharine, do whatever God suffers you 
to do to me ; but in the name of the Almighty, I com- 
mand you not to touch any of mine.'' At these words 
the man who threatened her so lost his strength, that it 
was impossible for him to endure her presence. He 
ordered her to go away ; but she, in her ardor for mar- 
tyrdom, answered : ' ' I am well here ; where would you 
have me go ? I am ready to suffer for God and his 
Church ; this is the object of all my wishes. Why flee 



HER GREAT PATIENCE. 311 

since I have found the object of my search ? I offer 
myself a living holocaust to my divine Spouse ; if you are 
charged to kill me, act fearlessly ; I will make no effort 
to escape ; but do not harm those who are with me.'' 
God visibly protected his servant, and the man who had 
menaced her departed, quite confused, with his iniquitous 
associates. Then Catharine's spiritual children surrounded 
her and congratulated her on her fortunate escape ; but 
she, on the contrary, was quite sad and said weeping : 
''Ah! how unhappy I am ! I thought this day the 
Almighty was about to crown my desire ; he has deigned 
to bestow on me the white Rose of Virginity, and I 
hoped that he would join to it the crimson Rose of Mar- 
tyrdom. But alas ! I am deceived in my expectations ; 
my innumerable sins have deprived me of that great 
blessing. ! how happy for my soul had I poured out 
my blood for the love of Him who redeemed me at the 
price of his own. '' 

Although this tumult was appeased, the Saint and 
those who accompanied her, risked many dangers. So 
great was the terror, that no one was willing to receive 
her into her house. Her friends advised her to return to 
Sienna, but she answered that she could not quit the ter- 
ritory of Florence before peace had been restored between 
the father and the children, because she had received an 
order from God. Those who surrounded her dared not 
contradict her, and at last found a '* good man fearing 
God,^^ who concealed her in his house. 

Some days after the popular effervescence was calmed, 
Catharine was conducted outside of the city, but not out 
of the territory ; and that holy Virgin departed with 
those whom she had cherished as her children in the 
Lord, into a solitary place inhabited by Hermits. 



312 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

Divine Providence put an end to this tempest ; those 
who excited it were punished bj justice and obliged to 
flee on all sides. Catharine then came back to Florence ; 
she remained there in secret at first, on account of the 
hatred existing towards her : but she remained there 
afterwards publicly until the death of Gregory XI., and 
the election of Urban YI. Peace was then concluded 
between the Holy See and the Florentines, and Blessed 
Catharine said to her spiritual children: ''We can now 
quit the city of Florence, because, with the grace of 
God, I have followed his commandments and those of 
his Vicar ; those whom I found in revolt against the 
Holy Church, I have left subject to that kind and tender 
Mother. Return therefore to Sienna.'^ 

Catharine thus escaped the hands of the wicked ; she 
obtained the peace that she desired, and that, by the 
power of the Saviour Jesus, whose Angels accomplished 
what the malice of men obedient to Satan, intended to 
prevent. How can we fail to admire Catharine in the 
perfection of her patience, the uprightness of her pru- 
dence, and that settled confidence which led her to knock 
at the door of the pacific King, until she obtained for 
the Church and for Florence, that peace which she so 
earnestly desired ! 

Let us now speak of that supreme patience of Catha- 
rine, displayed in the long and cruel death that she suf- 
fered for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and of his 
holy Church. JN'ot only she equalled the merits of the 
Saints, but it also appears to me that she surpassed several 
among them. The martyrs were tortured by men who 
sometimes ameliorated their sufferings, or yielded at least 
to their own weariness ; but Catharine was tormented by 
devils, whose cruelty was insatiable, and who never 



HER GREAT PATIENCE. 313 

reposed. Some martyrs fought a short time and died in 
excessive sufferings ; Catharine suffered thirteen weeks, 
from Sexagesima till the last day of April ; her torments 
were incredible, and her anguish increased daily ; she 
supported all these with patience and with holy joy ; she 
thanked God for them, and offered her life to appease his 
anger, and preserve his Church from scandal. Hence, 
neither cause, nor suffering was wanting to the perfection 
of her martyrdom, and in the canonization the pro- 
cedure might have been as short and as certain as in the 
procedures that the Church employs in the canonization 
of Confessors of the Faith. The witnesses of whom I 
have spoken in the first Chapter of the the Third Part, 
may also be invoked for the second and the following 
Chapters. 

All that I have written proves that Catharine, Virgin 
and Martyr, is worthy of being inscribed by the Church 

militant in the catalogue of the Saints May the 

happiness of eternal life be granted to me and her other 
spiritual children, by the Eternal Bounty who lives and 
reigns in his Unity and Trinity, world without end. 
Amen. 



THE END. 



27 



APPENDIX 

TO THE 



life of $i Cattiarine of $mm. 



Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the glory of his faithful 
Spouse Catharine, designed that her memory should re- 
main intact and incorruptible in the Church, like those 
sacred bodies which, venerated by the people, and 
respected by successive ages, await in their integrity, 
beneath the shade of her Altars, the day of final resur- 
rection. Not only did Friar Raymond of Capua write 
the life of our Saint, but her other disciples were provi- 
dentially called upon to render testimony to her virtues, 
and by their depositions we will conclude this volume. 

The miracles performed by Catharine, during her life- 
time, and after her decease, had given such proofs of her 
sanctity, that the devotion of the faithful was manifested 
by public honors. The Preaching Friars of Venice and 
other Italian cities celebrated the anniversary of her death, 
on the Sunday following the feast of St. Peter, martyr. 
The preacher of the day pronounced her eulogium, and 
exhorted his auditors to imitate her virtues ; this usage 
was followed in 1411, in the Convents of St. John and 
St. Paul, at Venice. Public opinion was displeased ; 
the Religious were accused of rendering public homage 

to a person whom the Church had not yet canonized, 

C315) 



316 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

The affair was deferred to Francois Bembo, Bishop of 
Venice, and legate of the Holy See, who assigned 
the 26th, of May following, to the originators of the 
Feast, Father Bartholomew de Ferarre, Inquisitor, and 
Father Thomas of Sienna, Prior of the Convent, that 
they might explain themselves concerning this accusation. 
They appeared before him and declared that they had not 
paid devotion to Catharine ; that they had celebrated the 
Office of the Day, and had simply proposed to the imita- 
tion of the faithful, the virtues with which Heaven had 
enriched that holy soul ; that these virtues were well 
known, and the general belief was that Catharine de- 
served to be inscribed in the number of the Saints ; that 
they were ready to give testimony of the truth,, but they 
preferred doing it by writing rather than viva voce. The 
Bishop^s Yicar consented to this ; the two Religious 
wrote their testimony concerning the sanctity and the 
doctrine of Catharine. They also invoked the testimony 
of other persons of distinguished merit, such as Dom, 
Etienne Maconi, General of the Carthusians, Dom Bar- 
tholomew de Ravenne, Prior of Gorgon Isle and Friar 
Auge of Sienna, of the Order of Friar Minors. 

The Collection of those important documents, uselessly 
sought for by the continuators of Bollandus, has since 
been published by Dom Martene, from a manuscript of 
the Grande Chartreuse, copied from a manuscript of the 
Dominicans of Sienna, by Dom Pierre Masotti, Prior of 
the Chartreuse of Pontigniane.* 

* Procussus contestatioiuim super sanctitate et doctriiia Beatie 
Gathariiiae de Senis. de mandato Reverondi in Christo Patris ac 
D. D. Fraiicisci Bembo, Dei gratia Episcopi Castellani,, per Fran- 
ciscum de Viviano, Notarium dictae Curiae positus. . . . Dom 
Marline. Veterum Scriptorum et Momimentorum amipUssima 
Collectio. Tom. 6. p. 1238. 

2i< 



TESTIMONY OP HER DISCIPLES. 3 IT 

The acts of the Process were commuted to writing by 
the Notary Fran9ois de Yiviano, and all the proceedings 
may be examined. The Preaching Friars having been 
accused of celebrating Catharine's feast, Friar Barthol- 
omew of Ferrare was cited on the 24th of May 1411, before 
Fran9ois Bembo Bishop of Venice. The plaintiffs 
whose names and address are given, expose their plaint, 
and require that in future such an abuse may be pro- 
hibited. 

On May 26, Friar Bartholomew of Ferrare, and Friar 
Thomas of Sienna made their appearance before the 
Bishop, assisted by his vicar, Dominique de Usculo, in 
the Episcopal Chapel of the Palace. The affair was 
discussed, and the Bishop decided that it should be 
exposed in written memorials. Friar Bartholomew being 
obliged to set out that same evening, the Vicar General 
wrote on the following day to the Bishop of Ferrare, 
praying him to hear Friar Bartholomew, and send him 
his deposition, invested with his Episcopal seal. 

Friar Bartholomew having had information of this 
letter, wrote to Friar Thomas of Sienna, that it was not 
suitable, on account of his title of Inquisitor of Ferrare, 
that he should be examined on this affair by the Bishop of 
that city ; that it was better for the Vicar of the Bishop 
of Venice to write to him directly, and that then he could 
publicly satisfy his demands. Father Thomas of Sienna 
therefore went to the Bishop of Venice and his vicar, who 
acceded to the proposition which was made to them, 
and the day preceding the last day of June, the Vicar 
addressed to Father Bartholomew, a letter in which he 
requested him to expose to him what he really said in the 
discourse delivered at the Convent of St. John and St. 
Paul. As soon as Father Bartholomew had received lliis 



818 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

letter from Ferrare, he occupied himself with its response ; 
but serious obstacles hindered him from terminating it 
immediately ; it was not ready until the 2tth April 1412, 
and it was remitted with the other depositions before the 
Episcopal audience, in presence of three Religious, and 
the undersigned Notary. The Yicar General adjourned 
to the fifteenth, the decision of this affair, in order to 
give the manuscripts a full examination. 

A decision was rendered to the glory of the Blessed 
Catharine ; it was declared that the Preaching Friars 
had done nothing reprehensible in honoring her memory : 
the Plaintiffs withdrew their expostulations, and the 
Notary Francois de Viviano drew up a digest of the 
verbal process and of all that had passed. This instru- 
ment was signed by him and the witnesses, on January 5th, 
1413. 

We intend analysing carefully these depositions of St. 
Catharine's cotemporaries, and we will quote all the 
passages which may complete the biography written by 
Blessed Raymond of Capua. We shall terminate by 
giving the Bull of canonization, — the summary and con- 
clusion of all these testimonies. 



FRIAR BARTHOLOMEW OF FERRARE. 

THE DEPOSITION OF FRIAR BARTHOLOMEW OF FERRARE, IS DATED THE 
LAST DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 1411. IT WAS PUT INTO AUTHENTIC FORM 
BY THE NOTARY OF THE INQUISITION, URBAIN OF RUSSETIS, THE TWENTY- 
SEVENTH OF APRIL, 1412, FOLDED AND SEALED THE SEVENTH OF MAY 
FOLLOWING, AND PRESENTED THE SIXTEENTH OF THE SAME MONTH, 
IN PUBLIC AUDIENCE, BEFORE THE VICAR GENERAL OF THE BISHOP OF 
VENICE. 

Friar Bartholomew was not personally acquainted 
with St. Catharine. He applies particularly to the justifying 
of the festivals celebrated in her honor, and explains the 
causes that retarded her canonization. He admits that 
during several years, they had celebrated a feast on the 
Sunday following St. Peter martyr, in honor of her who 
was generally styled Blessed Catharine of Sienna, quce 
comminiter appellatue beata Catharina de Senis : for 
more than ten years, he had seen this anniversary cele- 
brated with much edification, and nothing had transpired 
that was not conformable to the doctrine of the Church, 
since no honors were paid to Catharine which are reserved 
to canonized Saints. On the 3rd of May 1411, the feast 
of the Finding of the Holy Cross, they honored the 
memory of the Blessed, and he himself preached. To 
avoid any possible error, he had declared to his auditory 
that the '* Order of St. Dominic, so zealous for the laws 
of the Church, did not pretend to celebrate the festival 
of Catharine, as though she was canonized. The title 
of ^ Saint ^ could not be given to her, but that her life 
might well entitle her to the style of Blessed.^' Our 
Lord had called Peter, Blessed, because he confessed his 
Divinity, those who hear the Word of God are denominated 

( 319) 



320 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

Blessed, and in the Sermon on the Mount, it is declared ; 
Blessed are the poor in spirit. If this title be given to 
those who have not yet concluded their mortal pilgrimage 
can it be justly refused to those who have led a perfect 
life, and died with all the tokens of the most exalted 
piety ? Yes, Catharine may be called Blessed, and it is 
allowable to celebrate her holy life, since in sermons, we 
mention, in order to excite the devotion of the faithful, 
the virtues of pagans, and of heathen philosophers. We 
may, in presence of the holy Altars, speak of either a 
secular or a religious, who was a sinner during life, and 
who gave at death signs of repentance ; much more then 
may we speak of a person who exhibited such admirable 
virtues.'' 

Friar Bartholomew afterwards exposes the power of the 
Cross over souls, and makes the application of it to the 
blessed Catharine. His text is : Ergo evacuatum est 
scandalum cruets, (Gal. chap. v. ;) and after establishing 
the division of his discourse, and reciting the Ave Maria 
according to custom, juxta moreniy he enters into his 
subject. Dom Martene does not give Friar Bartholomew's 
sermon, he only quotes from it what refers to St. Catha- 
rine. (Page 124T.) 

Saint Catharine loved the Cross so tenderly, that she 
obtained the grace of participating in the torments which 
our Lord endured thereon for us, and she suffered so 
largely that her heart broke, literally, and her soul 
separated from her body during several hours. Our 
Lord imprinted on her the sacred stigmata but in an in- 
visible manner, and he frequently appeared to her cruci- 
fied, for thus she loved him most. Catharine was 
passionately devoted to the Holy Eucharist, because it 



FRIAR BARTHOLOMEW'S DEPOSITION. 321 

represents the sacrifice of Calvary ; to recall it, thirty 
times the august sign is made during Mass. 

Catharine was morally crucified by the four cardinal 
virtues. 1. By tempei^ance. At six years of age she 
practices abstinence, and urges it to incredible limits 
during her life ; she contents herself with one dress, 
refuses the simplest style of bed, deprives herself of food ; 
a little infusion of herbs and water suffices for her. At 
seven years of age she takes a vow of virginity and 
keeps it with perfection until death. 2. By prudence. 
Her proceedings are all marked with heavenly prudence, 
she clothes herself enthusiastically with the religious 
habit ; she lives in retirement, practices frightful austerities 
and appears in public only on receiving a formal order 
from Almighty God. She never uttered a frivolous or 
useless word. 3. By justice. She renders to every 
one his due, to God, herself, and her neighbor; she was 
compassionate towards all, and no necessity escaped 
her charity. L By fortitude. She was equally patient, 
courageous and constant in sufferings, persecutions and 
injuries, and notwithstanding all the obstacles that she 
encountered she preserved in her holy enterprises, at the 
peril even of her life. 

After recalling some traits of heroic virtue in the life 
of Catharine, Friar Bartholomew terminates his discourse 
by saying that the Blessed arrived at perfection, by loving 
the Cross of the Saviour, and we must walk in her foot- 
steps on earth, if we would share her glory in heaven. 
He then exhorts persons who are desirous of knowing 
more of Catharine's history, to go and hear Father 
Thomas of Sienna, who would preach on that very day, in 
the Church of St. Mark, not alone on the subject of the 



822 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

Redeemer's Cross, but concerning the virtues of his 
devoted hand-maid. 

Friar Bartholomew knew Catharine by the reputation 
of sanctity that she enjoyed throughout all Italy, and 
by her memoirs composed by Father Raymond of Capua, 
her last Confessor. He had also became acquainted with 
the contents of a collection of her letters, written to 
Sovereign Pontiffs, Cardinals, Kings and persons of every 
condition. He had seen those letters in that same year, 
in the apartment of the General Master of the Order of 
Preaching Friars, who, during an attack of illness, 
caused them to be read to him for his consolation. He 
also knew her by the admirable book which she composed 
during her ecstasies, in the last two years of her life. 
This book has been translated into Latin by a man of 
merit, who entertained a great esteem for Catharine !* 

He likewise knew her from informations received from 
a respectable man named Dino, from Lucca, who was at 
his side in the refectory as they were one day celebrating 
the feast of the Blessed Catharine. 

He also had received testimonies from another inhabi- 
tant of Lucca, called Leopardo, and from the nobleman 
Jacques des Guerriers de Montepulciano, who composed 
a little work in her honor. But his most elaborate in- 
formations were obtained from Friar Thomas of Sienna, 
who held relations with her during a long course of years. 
More than fifteen years that he had spent at the convent of 
SS. John and Paul, he had been laboring indefatigably 
in honor of the Blessed : if she is not yet enrolled 



■^ Qui liber postealatiuizatus est perquendain valentem vrum, 
virginis devotum, et tunc est in uno volumijie in libraria Con- 
ventus, S.S. Joannis et Pauli : Ord. Praed. — Page, 1251. 



FRIAR Bartholomew's deposition. 823 

among canonized saints, it must be attributed solely to 
tlie troubles that have agitated the Church. Petitions 
for her canonization were addressed to Boniface IX., and 
to Gregory XII. when he was at Sienna. The life and 
doctrine of Catharine have been examined, and all in it 
has been found capable of edifying the faithful, and 
strengthening their faith. Although her veneration is 
not yet approved, it is already permitted to honor her 
memory, and persons who are frightened at the feast 
we celebrate, will be re-assured by those explanations. 
In reference to whatever he has said or written. Friar Bar- 
tholomew submits entirely to the decisions of the Holy 
Catholic Church. 

After that declaration, and previous to the examina- 
tion of the affair, the day for the feast of Blessed Catha- 
rine arrived. Friar Bartholomew, then Prior of the 
Convent of St. John and St. Paul, collected the Fathers 
and Brethren who composed the council, and it was 
unanimously decided that that year (1412,) and the 
succeeding years, the memory of Blessed Catharine should 
be celebrated, because in the observance of that feast, 
nothing could occasion complaints, but that on the con- 
trary every thing in it was calculated to excite the 
devotion of the Faithful. Therefore the feast took place, 
as usual, in the Convent of SS. John and Paul, and in 
the other churches of the Preaching Friars, and no more 
reclamations were made on the subject. 



FRIAR THOMAS OF SIENNA 

FRIAR THOMAS OF SIENXA HAD BEEN SUMMONED WITH FRIAR BARTHOLO- 
MEW OF FERRARE, BEFORE THE BISHOP OF VENICE. HIS DEPOSITION 
IS DIVIDED INTO TWENTY ARTICLES. HIS TESTIMONY IS EXTREMELY 
INTERESTING, BECAUSE HE WAS PARTICULARLY ACQUAINTED WITH 
SAINT CATHARINE AND VERY INTIMATE WITH HER FAMILY. HE WAS 
SIXTY-TWO YEARS OLD AT THE PERIOD OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SUIT. 

1. It is long since the festival of Blessed Catharine 
has been celebrated throughout all Italy. The day selected, 
is the Sunday after the feast of St. Peter, martyr. No 
particular Office was instituted for her ; in the sermon 
her doctrine, her virtues and her miracles were alluded 
to. Her portrait with its history are represented in a 
great number of churches, and Friar Thomas had it 
painted, but always with the head encircled with luminous 
rays, like personages who have not yet been canonized. 
On the 3rd of May, 1411, day of the ''Finding of the 
Holy Cross, ^^ Friar Bartholomew of Ferrare spoke of 
the Blessed Catharine on the occasion of the festival, and 
her Confession. Friar Thomas, did the same in the 
church of St. Mark, in the presence of the Inquisitor. 
He had been a long time Prior of the Convent of 
Preaching Friars, and had always seen Catharine's 
memory celebrated in the same manner. She is also 
feasted in the Convents of Rome, at '' Ste. 3Iary-sur- 
Minerve,^^ where her virginal body reposes; at the 
Convent of the Sisters of Penance of St. Dominic of 
Rome, where resides her sister-in-law Lysa. The same 
happens at Lucca at the Roman Convent ; at Pisa in the 
Convent of St. Catharine ; in Germany at the Convent 

(324) 



FRIAR THOMAS^ DEPOSITION. 325 

of Nuremberg ; her history and her writings are generally 
known and are retained in the library of the Convent, or 
in the Church. Friar Thomas sent faithful copies of 
them. 

Friar Thomas declares that at Genes, at Venice, Pisa, 
Sienna, and Civita Vecchia, and in several other cities 
of Italy, he had seen and heard the memory of persons 
not yet canonized celebrated in this manner. He had some- 
tines preached concerning their virtues, and the people 
always derived particular benefit. He had himself preached 
several times at Venice, in the Church of St. John Chrys- 
ostom, on the life of the Blessed Zithe of Lucca. He 
had done the same for the Blessed Catharine in 1396 : 
during the Lent, he explained the Gospel every day, and 
illustrated it by examples drawn from her history. For 
sixteen consecutive years he had preached on her festival, 
which fell sometimes on the day of *' St. Philip and St. 
JameSy^^ sometimes on the day of the Holy ^* Crown of 
Thorns, ^^ and often on the day of the '' Finding of the 
Cross ^^ or of *^ St. John at the Latin gate.^^ He had 
even preached in two churches, and always before an 
auditory which listened to him with avidity. 

2. Friar Thomas declares that he knew particularly all 
the Confessors of the Saint who are mentioned in her life. 
1. Friar Thomas de Fonte, dead many years ago. 2. The 
Father Bartholomew de Dominici of Sienna, Professor of 
Theology who is yet alive. 3. The Father Raymond of 
Capua, who shortly after the death of Catharine in the 
Chapter held in Bologna la 1380, was named General 
Master of the Order of Preaching Friars. It is he who 
wrote the memoir of the Saint. Those Religious were 
her ordinary Confessors : in their absence, she addressed 
herself to Father John, Doctor in Theology, of the Order 

28 



326 LIFE OF ST. CATHABINE OF SIENNA. 

of Hermits of St. Augustine, or to an Abbe de Saint 
Authime, both of exemplary life and high reputation. 
The original manuscript of the annals of the Blessed 
Catharine composed by Friar Raymond, were written for 
the greater part with his own hand — the remainder under 
his dictation by Friar Thomas himself This copy is in 
possession of Father Nicholas, Professor of Theology, 
who assisted the General Master in his last moments at 
Wimberg, in the month of October 1399. It was from 
Friar Thomas' copy that all the others were made. 

3. Friar Thomas was very young when he became 
particularly acquainted with the Saint, and her father, 
mother and whole family. She had already taken the 
Habit of the Sisters of Penance of St. Dominic, when he 
himself entered the Order of Preaching Friars, and he 
had the means of admiring her holiness and her great 
austerities. Her first Confessor showed him a discipline 
used by Catharine ; it was composed of several cords at 
the extremity of which were iron points which were 
intended to rend her body. That dicipline seemed to 
have been steeped a long time in a vase full of blood and 
then dried. He had also seen an iron circle that she 
wore during a whole year, and at Yenice, an iron chain 
garnished with crosses which served her as a belt. After 
her death, that precious relic was given to the Chaplain 
of the monastery of Saint Andre who left it as a legacy to 
the Prior de la Misericorde of Yenice. Friar Thomas 
afterwards renders testimony to the other austerities of 
Catharine, of the planks that served for her bed, of her 
miraculous fasts and of the sufferings caused by even the 
small portion of food she attempted to take. 

4. Her ecstasies and her conversations with our Lord 
were continual. Once Friar Thomas was witness of her 



FUIAli THOMAS' DEPOSITION. 227 

holy intimacy. He heard the burning words of her soul, 
and felt escaping from her an ineffable perfume, the 
impression of which threw him, during several days into 
a delicious intoxication. Catharine dwelt near the 
Church of the Preaching Friars and passed a great part 
of the night in prayer. When she heard the Bell that 
announced Matins, she allowed herself a short repose. 
Ah I how zealously did she excite the Religious to imitate 
our Lord, and to take with him, on the table of the Cross 
the nourishment of salvation, to enclose themselves in the 
^' cell of their souls^^^ that is to say, in the knowledge of 
themselves, to pray therein efficaciously for such as have 
lost the life of grace ! She said continually : '* Ah ! let us 
stay in our cell and mourn, yes, let us mourn over those 
dead.'' It is impossible to tell the good that her exhort- 
ations and her examples produced among the Religious 
of the Order of Preaching Friars. 

5. Catharine of Sienna was devotedly fond of flowers. 
Often before her appearance in public, divine love would 
throw her into a holy languor, and she found delight in 
singing hymns amid the flowers of earth, which repre- 
sented to her the flowers of her celestial Spouse, She 
formed of them bouquets, with admirable skill arranging 
them into Crosses which she afterwards distributed, in 
order to excite in the souls of others the love of our 
divine Lord. Friar Thomas often partook of her bounty ; 
these flowers typified the life of St. Catharine and her 
charity towards God and her neighbor. The Cross of 
Jesus Christ was to her the flowery couch of her love : 
she was destined to collect like a nosegay of odorous 
flowers a multitude of souls to offer them to God ; her 
words and works were so many bouquets which embalmed 
the earth. She bloomed for heaven in the season of 



328 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

flowers, (April) and ever since, her memory has been 
particularly honored by flowers. Annually, in the 
Church of St. John and of St. Paul, at the chapel of St. 
John the Baptist, where there is a portrait of Catharine, 
a great number of persons inspired by her divine Spouse, 
come and oS'er flowers in profusion. They arrange 
them into Crosses, Bouquets, Crowns, Wreaths, and 
Garlands, and during the whole year, these testimonies 
of homage embellish and perfume the altar. This custom 
is equally prevalent in the other churches of Venice, they 
also feast Catharine of Sienna with nature's fairest buds 
and herbs of delicate fragrance. 

6. The union of Catharine's heart with God was uninter- 
rupted, even by the painful functions which her parents 
imposed on her. At the head of her bed was written 
this verse of the Psalms of David : '' Lord enlighten my 
eyes that I may never sleep in death." Illumina, Dom-- 
ine, ocidos meos, ne unquam obdormiam in morte. 
She feared nothing so much as to offend her Creator, and 
she expiated the least faults that she thought she had com- 
mitted, by torrents of tears, and by frightful austerities. 
All who knew her, especially her Confessors, are convinced 
that she not only preserved her virginal purity, but also 
her baptismal innocence. 

7. Catharine effected such an amount of good in souls, 
that even during her life-time she was generally known 
by the title of 'saint.' Her activity was prodigious. 
When she was not in prayer or in ecstasy, she instructed 
the neighbors or dictated letters to her secretaries ; 
she was never idle. She attracted to the path of perfec- 
tion a great number of Religious, Preaching Friars, 
Friars Minor, Hermits of St Augustine, young and old, 



FRIAR TKOAIAS' DEPOSITION. 329 

ignorant and learned, men and woman, noble and 
ignoble. 

She influenced a great number of persons to enter the 
Third Order, of St. Dominic ; Friar Thomas knew among 
others two Sisters of the name of Tholomei. They had 
been extremely occupied with their personal adornment 
and were strongly attached to the world. They employed 
a quantity of essences and perfumes when making their 
toilette, and when the Saint had made them acquainted 
with the Spouse of Virgins, they broke all their vials and 
threw them away in contempt. They afterwards led an 
angelical life in the bosom of their family. 

Among those who were indebted to Catharine as the 
instrument of their conversion, we may cite Gabriel Pic- 
colomini of Sienna. Neri of Landoccio who became 
one of her secretaries, Christopher Ghanni who transla- 
ted into Latin the book she composed, collected a portion 
of her letters and wrote a poem in her honor ; Etienne 
Macconi ; Nanni, who gave her a chateau for the estab- 
lisment of a monastery ; Fran9ois Malevolti, etc. 

8. Her charity towards the sick was admirable ; it 
shone especially during the Plague which ravaged Sienna 
in 1312 and 13T3. She was constantly near those who 
were attacked by the epidemic ; she prepared them for 
death and buried them with her own hands. She also 
visited prisoners and succeeded in bringing back to better 
sentiments, condemned criminals that the most skillful 
could not convert. Friar Thomas was witness of a mir- 
aculous change which she effected in the soul of a young 
man who was detained in the prison of that city : it is 
the same circumstance that the Saint describes in one of 
her letters in a style so poetic and so sublime. 

That young man belonged to one of the first families 

28* 



330 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

of Perouse, and was called Nicholas Toldo. In an 
affair with which he was charged he spoke ill of the 
Senator of Sienna who had him condemned to death. 
This cruel sentence threw him into despair. Catharine 
heard of it, and in her love for the salvation of souls, she 
went to visit him, and succeeded so well by conversing 
with him, that he who hitherto paced to and fro in his 
prison like an enraged lion, became as a meek lamb, 
ready to be offered on the Altar of immolation. He 
went with holy joy and a devout spirit to the place of 
expiation, and presented without one regret, his youth 
and his life to the axe of the executioner. Catharine 
was present and received his head in her hands; his eyes 
were fixed on heaven with a gaze so deliberate and firm 
that his eyelids were motionless. The spectators wept 
and fancied they saw a martyr rather than a guilty man 
under capital punishment, and his obsequies presented 
the aspect of a solemn religious festival. 

9. One of Catharine's great thoughts was the orga- 
nization of a Crusade ; she spared nothing to promote 
it, letters, prayers, nor discourse. She solicited in par- 
ticular Gregory XI. to this expedition, and a great 
number of individuals pledged themselves to take an active 
part in it. She hoped thereby to possess the means of 
visiting our Saviour's tomb. Nothing was comparable 
to her zeal for the souls whom God had especially en- 
trusted to her. She exhorted them vocally or by letters 
to tend to perfection ; and when she was near the 
Sovereign Pontiff, she obtained for them continually, 
particular favors and indulgences. She assumed the ex- 
piation of the sins of those whom the justice of God 
affrighted. She said to such, in order to inspire them 
with confidence ; ** Do not think about your transgres- 



FRIAR THOIVIAS' DEPOSITION. 331 

sions, J will take them on myself, I will answer for them 
before God ; /will cancel your debts towards him.'^ 

10. Friar Thomas never heard Catharine utter a friv- 
olous, useless, or reprehensible word ; all her conversations 
exhaled sanctity. One sole thing could trouble her, that 
was, to see God offended. She was ever affable, benevo- 
lent and gladsome, above all amid sufferings and in the 
persecutions which her parents caused her to undergo ; 
trials appeared to render her happy, and when fresh sor- 
rows came she gaily called them her Roses and her Flowers. 
One day when suffering a great deal she said : '* Did we 
but know how sweet are the pains that are suffered for 
the love of God, they would be accepted with more joy 
and gratitude than all his other benefits.'' Once a ser- 
vant of God came from Florence to examine personally 
what had been made known to him concerning our Saint. 
He was accompanied by two Religious, and after some 
gracious words from Catharine he commenced giving her 
the most humiliating and harsh reproofs. Catharine was 
extended, (on account of illness) on the planks that 
served as her bed ; she bowed her head, crossed her arms 
on her breast and listened submissively to the whole, 
without any change of countenance. She avowed to her 
Confessor who interrogated her on this subject, that she 
was very privileged and felt very grateful on hearing the 
verities that her divine Spouse had caused to be said to 
her for the interest of souls. The servant of God, who 
had thus tried her, was greatly edified and proclaimed 
openly that Catharine was ''fine gold without alloy." 

11. It is impossible to describe the sentiments that 
inspired Catharine when she was receiving the Holy 
Eucharist. Her radiant countenance was bathed in tears, 
and quite covered with pearl-like drops of perspiration. 



332 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

At her return to Avignon, when she received the Holy 
Communion in the Chapel that the Sovereign Pontiff had 
permitted her to have in her house, she was so inebriated 
with the blood of our Lord, that she could not detach 
her lips from the rim of the chalice, in which was offered 
(in accordance with the usage of the Church at that time) 
the wine of ablution. Her teeth left their impress on the 
border of the two chalices which were employed in her 
chapel. 

In reference to Catharine's Communions the Bollandists 
give the following details, extracted from the manuscript 
of Friar Thomas, her first Confessor. The Saint received 
the Holy Eucharist from our Blessed Lord Himself, not 
merely once, but several times, and in various ways ; 
often, instead of Sacramental Commuuion, he applied 
Catharine's lips to the wound of his sacred side. Some- 
times when she communicated, she saw angels holding a 
golden veil and burning torches in their hands around the 
Altar. The Sacred Host would be transformed into an 
infant of ravishing beauty ; sometimes three figures 
appeared there, and then blended into one. Sometimes 
the priest, our Lord and herself appeared to be inflamed, 
and a bright light issued from the Altar and illuminated 
the whole Church. Often, when the priest divided the 
Consecrated Host, it was shown to her how our divine 
Lord is found in each particle ; occasionally the Holy 
Trinity manifested himself under different forms. She 
also distinguished perfectly a Consecrated Host from a 
Host that is not consecrated. 

She dictated hei; letters and her book during her 
ecstasies. She would then walk in her room, with her 
arms crossed on her breast ; sometimes she knelt or took 
8ome other devout posture but always turned her face to 



FRIAR THOMAS' DEPOSITION. 333 

Heaven. What was most marvelous was, that when 
obliged during several days to interrupt her dictation, she 
unhesitatingly resumed it at the place in which she left 
off, without a re-perusal. 

12. The Supreme Pontiffs Gregory XI. and Urban VI. 
granted to St. Catharine a great number of particular 
favors. Friar Thomas has seen the authentic bulls of them, 
and exhibited them publicly in the Convent of St. John 
and St. Paul. One of those Bulls permitted Catharine, 
to have (always) a portable Altar, to be able to hear 
Mass whenever she desired it. Another granted to three 
Confessors who accompanied her, powers for absolving all 
sins, except such as are reserved to the Holy See. An- 
other, authorizes Catharine to establish a Convent of 
Nuns, in a chateau, given to her by a converted citizen 
of Sienna, and to receive for that foundation the sum of 
2000 florins. Other Bulls mention special indulgences 
and graces, obtained by Catharine for her disciples, and 
for other individuals, particularly for the Sisters of the 
'' Third Order ^' whose number she had greatly increased. 
There were more than a hundred in Sienna during her 
life-time. 

13. Friar Thomas had seen a great number of letters 
addressed by the Blessed to persons of every condition. 
He had a collection of them in his own hands, in 1398, 
that he brought himself to the Sisters of Penance of St. 
Dominic at Venice. He has seen at the house of Nicho- 
las de Guaderoni of Lucca, (actually in Venice), several 
volumes enclosed in a coffer : 1. one volume, containing 
the book composed in the vulgar tongue by the Blessed. 
2. The Latin translation of that book. 3. A collection 
of 155 letters addressed to the Supreme Pontiffs, to Car- 
dinals, Archbishops, Bishops, Laymen, to Religious of 



334 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

all Orders, to the Members of the Third Order of St. 
Domiuic and St. Francis. 4. Another collection of 139 
letters addressed to seculars. 5. The memoir of F. Ray- 
mond of Capua. 6. The same memoir translated into 
Italian. Nicholas de Guaderoni offered to give these 
volumes to the Court of Rome, or to deposit them in the 
library of the Preaching Friars of Sienna, so that they 
may serve in the process of her canonization. 

14. The relics of the Blessed Catharine are venerated 
throughout all Italy. Her head being brought from 
Rome, was solemnly received at Sienna, and deposited in 
the Convent of Preaching Friars ; it is in the Sacristy, 
in a beautiful gilded reliquary, with the relics of other 
Saints. At Venice, there are relics of the arm and of 
the hand of the Blessed ; in compliance with an order 
from the General, Friar Thomas presented them to the 
veneration of the faithful in 1396. They have since been 
carried back to Rome, and are venerated in the Convent 
of la Miner ve. They were purloined from the Sacristy 
or from the Altar ; but it is said that they have been 
restored. A Sister of the Third Order, coming from 
Rome, and going to the tomb of Saint Dominic, gave 
Brother Thomas a fragment of a bone of the Blessed, a 
piece of it was placed in a silver Reliquary which con- 
tains some relics of St. Christophe, and is found at 
Venice, at the house of the Sisters of the Third Order. 
Those same Sisters have, in a silver reliquary, a finger 
of the Blessed sent by Lysa, her kinswoman. Friar 
Thomas saw another finger of Catharine in the possession 
of Etienne Maconi. This finger is perfectly strait, and 
according to the testimony of Etienne Maconi it was so, 
previous to its separation from the others. When that 
disciple of Catharine carried her body, and exposed it in 



FRIAR THOMAS' DEPOSITION. 335 

the church of the Minerva, her arms were crossed on her 
breast and all her fingers were bent, except that one 
which remained erect, until the moment that Catharine's 
kinswoman detached it from her hand. This was intended 
to indicate the finger that received the nuptial ring of the 
Spouse. 

A tooth belonging to Catharine, taken by Etienne 
Maconi, was given by him to Angelo Corario of Venice, 
Patriarch of Constantinople, become Pope under the title 
of Gregory XII. When the Sovereign Pontiff set out 
for Rome, he gave that precious relic to a venerable 
Father, Antoine David of Venice, who had been his Pro- 
fessor. It passed then into the hands of Friar Thomas 
who had it set in a Keliquary, and was given at last to 
Duke Albert of Austria, who had a great devotion to the 
Blessed Catharine. Some Religious Olivetaines are said 
to have in the sacristy of their Convent another tooth 
which was given to them by Neri Landoccio, of Sienna, 
one of the secretaries of the Blessed. Friar Thomas has 
seen and had in his possession several days a chain of iron 
trimmed with crosses, which Catharine of Sienna wore a 
long time. It belongs to the Father Prior of the 
church De la Misericorde at Venice, where it is pre- 
ciously preserved, and who says that after his death, it 
must pass to the monastery of St. Andre at Venice. 

The Blessed Catharine learned to write miraculously ; 
one day on coming from mental prayer; she wrote to 
Etienne Maconi a letter which concluded thus **you 
must know, my beloved son, that this is the first letter I 
ever wrote myself.'' Etienne Maconi certifies that she 
wrote many after, and that several pages of the book that 
she composed, are written with her own hand. At the 
Chartreuse de Pontigniano near Sienna, there are 



336 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

preserved many autographs of Catharine, Friar Thomas 
had solicited some of them from Etienne Maconi, who 
had not yet sent them. Father Raymond also received 
two letters written by the Blessed ; one among them con- 
cludes thus : ''I wrote this letter myself and the one that 
I already sent you. For God gave me the facility to 
write, so that when coming forth from ecstasy, I might 
discharge my heart ; and as the Master who instructed 
the pupil shows him the model which he must copy, so 
he placed before my mental vision, the things that I 
should write you." At Venice is preserved a sheet of 
paper on which is written by her with cinnabar, this 
prayer in Italian. ^'Come Holy Spirit, into my heart, 
let thy power draw it to God, grant me charity and holy 
fear. Christ preserve me from every guilty thought, 
w^arm me, inflame me with thy sweetest love, and every 
pain will become easy to me. O holy Father, sweet 
and gentle Master, aid me in every necessity, loving 
Christ, loving Redeemer. '' This piece of writing was 
given to Father Jerome of Sienna of the Order of 
Hermits of St, Augustine ; it then passed to the 
celebrated Preacher, Leonard de Pise, who made a 
present of it to Friar Thomas, and it is now with the 
other relics of the Sisters of Penance of St. Dominic of 
Venice. 

In 1398, Friar Thomas brought from Sienna to Venice 
the mantle with which the Blessed was clothed on the day 
in which she was received into the Order of the Sisters of 
Penance of St. Dominic. Her disciple Neri Landoccio said 
that she valued this mantle very highly, undoubtedly 
because in it she was solemnly consecrated to her Spouse. 
She said : ''I will never part with this mantle, and I 
wish that it may last longer than my life. '' Therefore as 



FRIAR THOMAS' DEPOSITION. 337 

soon as the precious cloak became worn or had a rent in 
it, she mended it with great care. The numerous pieces in it 
were inserted by her. Many persons through devotion 
desired to be received in the Third Order with that cloak, 
which has therefore received several blessings. The 
Blessed left it to her first Confessor Friar Thomas de 
Fonte, who gave it as a legacy when dying to his niece 
Catharine Cothi, Sister of the Third Order ; she gave it 
to Friar Thomas. It is now in a case of gilded wood, 
among the Sisters of the Third Order, and it has per- 
formed, by the merits of the Saint many spiritual and 
corporeal cures. 

15. Catharine's cononization has been petitioned for 
frequently. Albert, Duke of Austria, sent two Carthus- 
ians to Master Thomas de Firino, General of the Preach- 
ing Friars, to have Boniface IX. solicited on the subject. 
Some letters were also addressed to the Sovereign 
Pontiff, by the Bishop of Poitiers, by the King of 
Hungary, and by the Duke of Austria. The same 
instances were renewed with Innocent YII. and Gregory 
XII. Gregory XII. commenced the process, and heard 
a great many witnesses. He desired to see what the 
Blessed had written concerning events which were to 
happen in the Church ; and the Archbishop of Ragusa, 
who loved Catharine as a Mother, and who was disposed 
to do all in his power for her canonization, presented the 
letters that she had addressed to Urban VI. at the com- 
mencement of the Schism, and translated them into 
Latin, that the Sovereign Pontiff might read them with 
greater facility. Gregory XII. was at that time occupied 
with restoring peace to the Church, and the moment was 
not favorable for terminating the informations ; they were 
necessarily suspended. 



838 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

16. This commencement of procedure caused many 
letters to be written, and collected a vast number of 
documents concerning Blessed Catharine. Her reputation 
spread throughout Europe. Etienne Maconi sent her 
memoirs to the King of England, who had asked for 
them. He sent the same to the King of Hungary with 
the Book composed by her. Other copies were addressed 
to the King of Naples, of Prague in Bohemia, at Treves 
in Germany, in Prusssia on the confines of Poland, and 
at the Chartreuse in Kome. In all the documents relat- 
ing to the Saint, they give her titles which prove how 
w^ortky they deem her of canonization. They call her 
''Mother of a multitude of souls, ^^ ''most meek and 
gentle Mother, ^^ "blessed Catharine/^ "privileged 
Virgin, ^^ " servard of God,^^ " most faithful Spouse 
of Christ,^ ^ "admirable in her holiness,^ ^ etc., etc. 

17. Father Thomas names persons still living, and who 
are able to render testimony in favor of Catharine's sanc- 
tity : Friar Mathieu of Venice, Religious Camaldule, 
Nicholas of Prato, Father Securian of Savone, Etienne 
MRCoui^ Chartreux, Bartholomew of Kavenna, more than 
sixty years of age, Frangois Bartholomew Montucci, 
who sometimes confessed the Blessed, the venerable 
Thomas, Prothonotary of several Sovereign Pontiffs, Jac- 
ques of Montepulciano, who knew Catharine and com- 
posed a poem in her honor ; the noble Lady Lancina of 
the house of the Lords of Foligno. 

18. Other witnesses are dead, but their testimony 
remains, and the reputation they have left, gives them 
singular weight. Among others may be cited the Arch- 
bishop of Ragusa, Father Raymond of Capua, Father 
Thomas Fonte, Father John of the Convent of Vallom- 
brosa and Barduccio of Florence, who was particularly 



FRIAR THOMAS' DEPOSITION. 339 

dear to the Blessed. He was her secretary, accompanied 
her to Rome and assisted her in her dying moments. He 
afterwards returned to Sienna, sick, and having languished 
there a short time, slept peacefully in the Lord, with a 
smile on his countenance after death, caused it was 
generally believed by the presence of that favored virgin, 
Catharine, who came to console him in his last moments. 

19. Friar Thomas gives the name and address of the 
writers who have contributed the most to propagate 
the life and portraits of the Blessed. A considerable 
numberof copies of her life and works were sent into the sur- 
rounding countries, except in Spain, in Catalonia and in 
France, which were all desolated by the Schism. Catha- 
rine was however well known in France, on account of 
lier voyage to Avignon. 

Her picture is greatly multiplied. Catharine is repre- 
sented like those holy souls whom the Church has 
* beatified' but not canonized. These likenesses are 
found in Poland, Hungary, Dalmatia, Tuscany, Lom- 
bardy, above all in Yenice, at Rome and in the kingdom 
of Naples. She is painted on wood, on plaster, cloth, 
and in books, among christians and among infidels ; for 
some of her pictures have been sent from Yenice to 
Alexandria. A person who entertains a great devotion 
to her, has caused her likeness to be painted on cards, so 
that on the day of her feast, all who take part can pro- 
cure a picture of her. It is then placed in the churches, 
amid branches and bouquets offered in her honor, and 
each one can adorn his own residence with it. Thousands 
of them are daily made, not alone for the city of Yenice, 
but for other countries whither great quantities are 
forwarded. It was these pictures of Catharine which 
suggested the idea of multiplying in the same manner the 



340 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

pictures of the canonized Saints. The faithful procure 
them on the days of their festivals, and find in them a 
means of augmenting their devotion. 

Daring 16 years, the feast of Blessed Catharine has 
been celebrated in the Convent of SS, John and Paul. 
On that day, from the early morning, there is fine music, 
the Altar is adorned with its richest ornaments, and the 
whole church is decorated with garlands and bouquets of 
flowers. The school of Mercy comes, and sings a solemn 
high Mass. In the evening, there are Vespers, sermon, 
and a grand public repast, at which the sweetest joy pre- 
sides ; persons of every age and of all conditions come 
and mingle with the Friars of the Convent ; there are se- 
culars, pupils, Religious, poor, Prelates, Nobles, Doctors 
in Medicine, Merchants, Artists, youth and infants. The 
members of the Third Order of St. Dominic serve the 
table with their Prior Antoine Superantio of Venice. 
The history of Catharine is read, her praises are sung, 
and conversations are held concerning her virtues and her 
miracles. 

A young married person conceived such a devotion to 
Catharine that she renounced the world, assumed the 
Keligious Habit and passed her remaining days, in the 
exercise of exalted piety. When dying she left by will a 
certain sum of money to the Convent of SS. John and 
Paul, for providing the repast that is given on Catharine's 
festival. Her name was Sister Maria Nicoleii ; her 
Mother who was executrix of her testament not only faith- 
fully paid the legacy, but also secured to perpetuity other 
sums to the same intention, to the monastery of Corpus 
.Domini and to other Convents of the Order of Saint 
Dominic. The custom was likewise introduced of offer- 
ing presents to the Church on Catharine's feast 5 every 



FRIAR THOMAS' DEPOSITION'. 341 

one brings according to his means and his inspiration, 
flowers, crowns, garlands, portraits of Catharine, silver 
and brazen medals, bread, wine, fruits (dry and fresh,) 
vegetables, and money ; others offer their services to 
adorn the Church or serve at the repast. Among all most 
worthy of remark were Antoine Superantio and his 
wife Sister Marine de Contarinis of the Third Order of 
Penitents of Saint Dominic, and several members of the 
same Fraternity. 

Friar Thomas infers that no woman, if we except St. 
Bridget, can be compared in these latter times with the 
Blessed Catharine. She is worthy without doubt of 
being inscribed in the catalogue of the Saints, and would 
be so already had not the Great Schism afflicted and agi- 
tated Christendom. Her life was admirable, and her 
death may be considered as a voluntary martyrdom 
endured for the Church and the Papacy. The venerable 
Friar Guillaume de Silvalacus^ was right in saying in a 
sermon which he preached in honor of Catharine's vir- 
tues : ^' It is with pious hymns and not with tears we 
should celebrate the death of Catharine of Sienna. 
Remember that she died for the Church and is crowned 
in heaven.'' God showed her to a devout person in a 
vision, carrjang on her shoulders the vessel of the Church 
and sinking beneath its weight. 

Her death or rather her birth to eternal joys is another 
shade of reremblance she has with the Saviour. Our 
Lord Jesus Christ announced his death and gave to his 
disciples whom he was about to leave, a discourse 
abounding with admirable instructions ; Catharine did 
the same. 

Our Lord was tormented in his passion by the demons 
who caused him to be crucified, by men ; Catharine was 

29* 



342 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

tormented by the demons who put her to death for the 
Church. Our Lord was assisted in his last moments by 
his mother and a few disciples ; the others were absent : 
the same happened to Catharine. As our Lord, Catha- 
rine died far from her native city and had a stranger^s 
sepulchre ; her body remained incorruptible during 
three days, and her tomb became glorious ; people 
hastened to it from all parts of Furope, and great 
miracles were performed there. Finally, like our Blessed 
Lord, Catharine has disciples who are faithful to her 
memory and spread abroad her name and her instruc- 
tions. 

20. Friar Etienne finished his deposition by giving the 
sermon which he pronounced on the 3rd of May, 1411, 
and which was one of the causes of the Process. His 
text was these words of the Apostle: *' Mihi absit 
gloriari nisi in cruce.^^ Dom. Martine does not give 
this discourse which is very long and gives no new infor- 
mation. Friar Thomas calls God to, witness that he 
speaks the truth. 



FEIAR BARTHOLOMEW OF SIENNA. 

THE DEPOSITION OF FRIAR BARTHOLOMEW DE DOMINICI OF SIENNA 
WAS DELAYED ; IT IS DATEIJ THE TWEiNTY-NINTH OF OCTOBER 1412. 
IT WAS RECEIVED AND WRITTEN BY M. ADAM (NOTARY,) CLOTHED 
WITH ALL REQUISITE FORMALITIES, AND SENT IN THE COURSE OP 
KOVEMBER TO FRIAB THOMAS, WHO FORWARDED IT TO THE VICAR 
GENERAL OF THE BISHOP OF VENICE. AS IT DID NOT APPEAR SUFFI- 
CIENTLY COMPLETE AND CONFORMABLE TO THE MEMOIR OF BLESSED 
RAYMOND, FRIAR BARTHOLOMEW MADE A FEW ADDITIONS DURING 
THE MONTH OF DECEMBER ; HE WAS THEN NEARLY 68 YEARS OF AGE. 

Friar Bartholomew was yet in early youth when he 
became acquainted with Blessed Catharine ; she had 
already worn the habit of the Sisters of Penance many 
years, and her Confessor at that time was Friar Thomas 
de Fonte, of Sienna. Friar Bartholomew had made his 
Novitiate with him ; he often accompanied him when he 
went to visit Catharine, who lived in a room, the door and 
window of which were continually closed. A lamp burned 
there day and night, before the Portrait of our Blessed 
Kedeemer, and the likenesses of the Blessed Virgin and 
other saints, which were there represented. From that 
period Friar Bartholomew has always had relations with 
the Blessed, at Sienna, at Pisa, Lucca, Avignon, Genes, 
Florence and Rome. He testifies to the austerity of her 
life, mortifications and abstinence, and to her humility 
and the painful functions that she selected. As soon as 
she had any leisure, she washed all the soiled linen that 
she could find in the house. She was extremely fond of 
lilies, roses, violets, and all flowers ; and composed them 
into crosses, aud superb bouquets, when she had termi- 
nated her penances. Her companions were young maidens 
who wore the same Religious garb, and entertained the 
(343) 



344 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

same heavenly desires ; and they sung together devout 
hymns. 

When I commenced visiting her in her cell, says Friar 
Bartholomew, she was young, and always wore a cheerful 
countenance. I was also young ; yet not only did I not 
experience any trouble in her presence, but the longer I 
conversed with her, the stronger became my love for the 
religious virtues. I saw in succeeding times many laymen 
and monks who visited her and who all experienced im- 
presssions similar to mine. The sight of her, and all her 
conversations breathed and communicated angelical purity. 

Friar Bartholomew cites her charity towards the indi- 
viduals who persecuted her. When Andrea accused her 
to the Prioress of the Fraternity, she v/ho had so long 
consecrated the virginity of her body and of her soul, to 
God, to Holy Mary and St Dominic, — knelt down and 
replied with virginal bashfulness and dove-like simplicity : 
" mother, forgive me, but I do not know how I could 
commit the faults of which you speak to me, for by God's 
grace, I had rather die than offend God, above all in the 
way you say.'' The Prioress seeing her humility and 
simplicity sent her away in peace. 

In respect to the alms which she distributed in secret, 
Friar Bartholomew thus narrates the story of the Cask 
which yielded good wine so long. It was observed that 
the cask was empty, thence arose a great tumult in the 
house : Catharine saw that her Father was troubled, and 
she sympathized in his annoyance, but put her trust in 
God. She succeeded in appeasing the disturbance : 
''Father " said she, '* what is it that troubles you ? '' and 
when Jacomo had explained, she added, ** Be calm Father, I 
will go and draw wine for you.'' She went to the cask, 
knelt, and said to God with fervor: ''Lord thou knowest 



DEPOSITION OF BARTHOLOMEW OF SIENNA 345 

that that wine was distributed to the poor for love of thee ; 
suffer not that for this I become an occasion of scandal 
to my brethren. '^ She then made the sign of the Cross 
over the Cask, and wine flowed from it in abundance. She 
thanked Almighty God and did not speak of the miracle 
to any one. 

On coming out of ecstasy, which sometimes lasted more 
than two hours, she reproved her companions for their 
idleness, and when they attempted to excuse themselves, 
presuming that she was ignorant of what had transpired 
she rebuked them more severely, saying ; " Were you not 
in such a place, and did you not say such a thing.'' 
Friar Bartholomew could not believe in that prophetical 
spirit. Going once to visit her with her Confessor, he 
asked her, (to give her a trial,) what they were doing at 
two and three o'clock in the morning. She answered : 
*■ Who knows better than yourself." Her Confessor said : 
*' I command you to tell, if you know, what we were doing 
at that time.'' She was obliged to obey, and humbly 
bowing her head, she replied; ''You were four in the 
cell of the Sub-Prior, and there you conversed together a 
long time." She named all who were present, and the 
subject on which they had spoken. Friar Bartholomew 
was amazed, but he thought she might know from some 
of the persons present, so he determined to try her again. 
On the morrow he went to her and said: " Then you 
know. Mother, what we do?" She answered: ''My 
son, know that my divine and sweet Saviour having given 
me a spiritual family, leaves me in ignorance of nothing 
that concerns them." "You know, then, what I was 
doing yesterday evening at such an hour?" She an- 
swered "Certainly, you were writing oa a certain sub- 
ject. My sou, I watch and pray for you continually, 



54G LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

until the Matiu Bell of your Convent. I see all that 
you do, and if you had good eyes, you would behold me 
as I do you. Often our sweet Saviour deigns to come 
and walk, repeating psalms with me in my cell ; he con- 
verses with me on a variety of things, and when he dis- 
covers that I am fatigued, he sits down at this place, and 
bids me sit at his ft^et, and we hold conference until 
Matins. Then he gives me permission to sleep, saying : 
' Go, my daughter, and take some repose, thy children 
are rising for Matins, they will praise me in thy place.' 
I then sleep a few moments." 

Friar Bartholomew describes a spiritual aid that he 
received from Catharine. His superiors had sent him to 
Florence, and the Blessed remained at Sienna. In a 
conversation between himself and a Religious of the 
Convent, he conceived doubts concerning the validity of 
his ordination, because he had received the priesthood 
before the age of twenty-five — he thought at once that it 
would be a great sin for him to continue celebrating 
Mass, and discontinued ofTering it. The Prior who asked 
the reason, could never induce him to surmount his scru- 
ples. One day as he was weeping bitterly, he regretted 
not being at Sienna, thinking that Catharine would be 
capable of giving him great consolation in this circum- 
stance. He invoked her in the midst of his grief, when 
Father Raymond, who compassionated his state, called 
him and conducted him to the Bishop of whom he was 
the Confessor. When he had manifested to him what 
tormented him, the Bishop who was very learned, said : 
" My son, it is a fault to act against the canons ; but in 
this circumstance, I am able to grant you the necessary 
dispensations, because you acted ignorantly, and not in 
contempt of the decisions of the Church. Therefore 



DEPOSITION OF BARTHOLOMEW OF SIENNA. 347 

entertain no further anxiety/' Friar Bartholomew took 
courage and returned to his Convent, with his conscience 
in perfect peace. The very morning in which he invoked 
Catharine, she was in the church of the Preaching Friars 
at Sienna, before the Altar of the Blessed Peter Martyr ; 
she was aware of Friar Bartholomew's trouble, and com- 
passionated him with her whole heart. In the midst of 
her ecstasy, she besought God to deliver him, and in her 
enthusiastic devotion to God her body was elevated above 
the ground. When she had returned to herself, her com- 
panions asked her what was passing at that moment; she 
answered : *' My son Bartholomew was cruelly tormented 
in Florence by the Demon." 

When Pope Gregory XI. inquired of her her opinion 
concerning his return to Rome, she humbly excused her- 
self, saying that it did not become a poor, lowly woman 
like her, to give advice to the Sovereign Pontiff. The 
Holy Father rejoined : '* I do not request you to give mc 
advice, but to declare to me the ivill of God.'" And as 
she constantly excused herself, he commanded her in 
holy Obedience, to tell him whether she was really aware 
of God's will on the subject. She bowed her head, and 
said : " Who knows more perfectly the ivill of God 
than your HolinesSj who has pledged himself by a 
Vow V^ At these words the Holy Father was seized with 
astonishment ; for no one knew that he had taken a Yow 
to return to Rome, and it was at that very moment that 
he took the resolution to quit Avignon. 

A short time after, when the Blessed was returning 
into Italy, she found herself, on the vigil of St. Francis, 
at Varragio, near the city of Gen^s. She called Father 
Raymond, her Confessor, and told him that God had just 
revealed to her that on such a day as that, in a few years, 



348 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

he, (Father Raymond,) would transport her body from 
one tomb to another. The prophecy was accoraplislied. 
Catharine's eloquence was remarkable ; the ignorant and 
the learned said : '' Whence comes so much knowledge, 
since she never studied ? ' ' Some thought that the Preach- 
ing Friars had taught her, but it was she on the contrary 
that instructed them ! Whatever she knew came to her 
directly from God, as may be seen in letters, and in the 
book that she composed during her ecstasies. Frequently 
she dictated to two or three secretaries at the same time, 
on different subjects, and that without the least hesitation. 
Her discourse charmed every one, and her detractors 
after having listened to her, celebrated her praises every 
where ; so great was the unction which animated her, 
that a great multitude of men and of women flocked 
around her to enjoy her teaching. 

When speaking of her delicacy of conscience, Friar 
Bartholomew recalls the fault that she mourned during 
three days. She had said, that she would willingly go 
to visit a hermit in the environs of Sienna, although she 
did not mean to do so. Our Lord said to her : '* Daugh- 
ter, do not weep longer for thy fault ; I allowed thee to 
fall into that sin, that remorse of conscience might recall 
thee to thy senses, which thou art rejoiced to have quitted. 
It is a means of self-knowledge, and of shunning pride, 
when my liberality grants thee spiritual consolations, in 
order to fortify and encourage thy weakness. '' 

Friar Bartholomew thus relates the distraction that she 
had on the eve of St. Dominic. The first toll of Vespers 
having sounded, she hastened to the Church. I called 
her, and seated myself to converse with her; she knelt 
down nenr me and as her countenance was lighted up with 
joy, I said to her; ** We have good news to day, I per- 



DEPOSITION OF BARTHOLOMEW OF SIENNA. 349 

ceive you are quite joyous. '^ Then she related to me 
admirable things concerning St. Dominic. *' Do you see 
him," said she to me, ''our Blessed St. Dominic?" 
" how much he resembles our Saviour! he has an oval 
face, a grave and mild physiognomy, brown hair and a 
beard of the same hue.'' 

I questioned Catharine concerning the reality of her 
death ; I asked her if her soul were truly separated from 
her body, she answered that she believed so : and as I 
asked her how she could be sure of it, when the Apostle 
Paul was not able to say, whether he had seen God, ''in 
or Old of the body,^^ she said that she believed it, 
because her heart was broken by the violence of her 
desires. And as I repeated that she could not know 
what the great Apostle was ignorant of, she surrendered to 
this argument. Her Confessor commanded her to ask 
God what had happened to her. She obeyed, and our 
Lord answered that her soul had been actually separated 
from her body, and added: ''Learn, beloved daughter, 
that I raised thee to a new life ; thou shalt travel, thou 
shalt go from city to city, as I will indicate to thee, thou 
shalt live with the multitude and speak in public : I will 
send some to thee, and I will send thee to others, accord- 
ing to my good pleasure : be ever ready to do my will." 

Catharine suffered with wonderful patience, and she 
was fastened to the Cross by three kinds of dolers ; in 
the head, breast, and side. Never did these acute pains 
excite the least shade of melancholy in her countenance, 
which was ever cheerful and even gay. When the pain 
in her side tortured her cruelly and hindered her from 
rising, her disciples pitied her, and said: "Mother, what 
are you suffering?'' She would answer smiling: "I 
feel a gentle beating in my side.'' Her sufferings were 

30 



350 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

to her valuable presents from her Spouse ; they even 
seemed to her to possess an extreme sweetness, and when 
they increased she found them sweeter still. 

One day Friar Bartholomew asked her what she suffered 
in her breast ; she replied, that she was enduring what 
our Lord underwent on the Cross, when one of his hands 
being already nailed, they drew the other with such vio- 
lence that all his ribs were disjointed ; that was her 
greatest corporeal suffering. Catharine longed for mar- 
tyrdom, and when she spoke of it, her visage appeared 
all inflamed. She showed her white robe, saying : ^'Oh 1 
how lovely it would be, were it stained with blood, for 
love of Jesus !'' 

There reigned such authority in her discourse, and so 
much grace on her lips, that she attracted the greatest 
personages to God. This was particularly observed at 
the court of Gregory XI. Those who had been most 
opposed to her quickly yielded to her benign influence, 
and became her friends and benefactors. The Duke 
d^Anjou, uncle of the King of Prance, was, among 
others, so changed in respect to her, that he wished to 
conduct her to Avignon, to one of his chateaux, that the 
Duchess, his lady, might enjoy her presence. Three 
days after, he offered to present her to the King of 
France ; but Catharine humbly declined. He then gave 
her a hundred francs in gold to defray her returning 
home into Italy. At her persuasion, he promised the 
Sovereign Pontiff, Gregory XL, to go to Palestine, when 
he would tell him to do so, with an army equipped at his 
own expense. The Holy Father would not allow her to 
quit Avignon before him, and he provided, until her de- 
parture, for her personal expenses and that of those who 



DEPOSITION OF BARTHOLOMEW OF SIENNA. 351 

accompanied her, who numbered twenty-two. He sent 
her 100 florins to defray the expenses of her journey. 

There was in Sienna a nobleman named Fran9ois, whose 
years numbered more than eighty. He had never been to 
Communion, and had never confessed but once, and then 
in his youth, during a serious illness. Alessia, Catharine's 
beloved companion, was his daughter-in-law, and that 
devout woman frequently exhorted her father-in-law to 
obey the precepts of God and of his church. But as 
she gained nothing, she besought Catharine to come and 
reside with her, so that during the long evenings of win- 
ter she would have an opportunity of conversing with the 
old gentleman. Catharine consented to it, and under- 
took this difficult conversion. She combatted a long 
time against the poor obstinate, who mocked her pious 
exhortations ; but finally he could resist no longer ; his 
heart became softened before the fire of her discourse, 
and he said : " I am determined to confess ! but first of 
all, I must tell you, that I entertain such a hatred 
against the Prior of a certain church that I daily seek 
means of killing him.'' The Blessed Catharine said such 
affecting things to him on this subject that he finished by 
exclaiming ; '* I am ready to do whatever you order me ; 
you need only speak. '' Catharine said to him : ''I wish 
that for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that he 
may pardon you, that you should forgive the Prior, and 
be reconciled with him." He promised it, and although 
the wrongs did not proceed from him, on the morrow at 
dawn of day, he took a falcon which he was very fond 
of, and went alone to the church at which the Prior re- 
mained. The latter immediately fled ; but the old man 
charged a Canon to go and tell him that he did not come 
to injure him, but on the contrary to bring him good 



352 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

news. The Prior on learning that he was alone and un- 
armed, caused several persons to come into his apartment 
and permitted his visitor to be introduced — who bowed 
to him and said : "The grace of God has touched my 
heart and I am come to offer to be reconciled with you, 
and to prove that this step on my part is sincere, I entreat 
you to accept this falcon, of which I am extremely fond.'' 
Peace was concluded, and the aged nobleman returned 
to Catharine: "I have obeyed your orders," said he, 
** and I will obey you again. " The Blessed told him to go 
and confess to Friar Bartholomew. His general confes- 
sion occupied three days, and when he had received abso- 
lution, his Confessor was at a loss what penance to assign 
him, because he was very aged, and was in indigence 
although he was noble. 

He gave him a trifling penance, and bade him — "Re- 
turn to her who sent you, and the penance that she gives 
you, I give also." Catharine told him to rise during 
a certain period, every morning at dawn of day, and go 
in silence to the Cathedral, reciting each time a hundred 
Pater and a hundred Ave ; and she gave him a cord on 
which a hundred knots were to serve him to reckon them. 
The good old man accomplished the whole with fidelity ; 
and he who formerly, seldom entered a Church and never 
observed a fast, undertook, notwithstanding his burden 
of eighty years, to pass daily prolonged hours at the foot 
of the Altar. He observed Lent scrupulously, and zeal- 
ously attended all the sermons, and after persevering a 
year in these pious exercises, he slumbered calmly in 
God. 

Catharine had relations with Friar Bartholomew 
during several preceding years w^hen she began to confess 
to him, and receive the holy Eucharist from his hands. 



DEPOSITION OF BARTHOLOMEW OF SIENNA. 353 

The witness on this subject, certifies : " The ardor of her 
desire and of her love was so great, that, at the moment 
of giving her Holy Communion, I felt the consecrated 
Host which I held in my hand move and escape violently. 
At first I was much troubled, and sometimes feared lest 
the sacred Host should fall to the ground ; but it 
appeared to fly towards her mouth. Many individuals 
told me that the same thing had happened to them. 
When, after Communion, we presented her the wine in the 
chalice, she imprinted her teeth so forcibly on the margin 
that we could not withdraw it without great difficulty ; 
two silver Chalices that had been given to her for the use 
of her Chapel bear the marks of her teeth.'' 

Catharine had no sins to tell in her Confessions ; she 
accused herself only of failing in virtue, and of not being 
sufficiently grateful for the benefits bestowed on her by 
Almighty God. She treated herself as unworthy and 
most miserable, and as one whose guilty conduct was the 
cause of all the ill that happened in the w^orld. These 
w^ords so holy and so profound scandalized instead of 
edifying me ; I w^as incapable of understanding them, 
and in my gross ignorance of things spiritual, I went so 
far as to suspect her of not believing herself to be such 
as she said. One day as she w^as thus humbling herself 
before me, I interrogated her in order to have an occasion 
of reproving her : '' How " said I, ''can you thus speak, 
when it is evident you have a great horror of sin, which 
so many others love to commit every day ?" She an- 
swered me weeping : ''0 father, I see truly that you do 
not know my misery. Alas ! I have received from my 
Creator graces so great and so numerous, that in my 
place, the most contemptible being on earth would be 
inflamed with the love of God. Her examples and her 



354 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

words would have spread, everywhere enthusiasm for the 
heavenly country and contempt of the present life ; men 
would sin no more I But I who have received so much, 
7, can truly say that I am the most ungrateful of crea- 
tures, and that I am a cause of ruin to the world, because 
I ought to save so many, preaching both by word and 
example: I have therefore failed in my duty, and I am 
very guilty before God !'^ 

Among those who blamed the extraordinary life of 
Catharine, the most remarkable was Father Lazarini, of 
the Order of Friar Minors, who was then professing Phil- 
osophy with eclat, in his convent of Sienna. Not content 
with openly attacking the reputation of the Blessed, he 
resolved to come and see her, so as to find in her words 
and actions, materials for condemning her further : on 
the eve of ^^ St, Catharine, Virgin and Martyr,'''' he 
repaired to her house at the hour of Vespers. He had 
requested me to accompany him and I had consented to 
it, because I believed that he would repent of his conduct 
towards her. We entered her pious cell ; Lazarini seated 
himself on a chest, and Catharine on the floor at his feet ; 
I remained standing. After a few moments of silence. 
Friar Lazarina began to speak : '^ I have heard '' said he 
''many speaking of your sanctity, and of the understanding 
God has given you of the Holy Scriptures, and I have 
been eager to visit you hoping to hear something edify- 
ing and consoling to my soul." — Catharine replied: 
*' And I, rejoice at your arrival, because I think that the 
Lord sent you to allow me an opportunity of profiting by 
that learning, with which you daily instruct your numerous 
disciples. I hoped that charity would induce you to 
comfort my poor soul, and I entreat you to do so through 
love of our Lord.'' The conversation continued some 



DEPOSITION OF BARTHOLOMEW OF SIENNA. 355 

time in this tone, and as the night was approaching Friar 
Lazarini finished by saying : '' I see that it is late, and 
that I must retire, but I will return at a more suitable hour. '' 
He arose to depart; Catharine knelt, crossed her arms, 
and asked his blessing. When she had received it, she 
commended herself to his prayers, and Friar Lazarini, 
more through politeness than from devotion, asked her 
also to pray for him which she cheerfully promised to do. 
He went away, thinking that Catharine might be a good 
person, but that she was far from meriting her great 
reputation. 

The night following, on rising to study the lesson that 
he was to explain to his pupils the next day. Friar 
Lazarini began to shed tears involuntarily. The more he 
wiped them, the more copiously they flowed, and he could 
not discover the cause ! In the morning, they came to 
call him at the hour of Class ; but it was impossible for 
him to speak to his pupils : he wept without intermission. 
Returning to his cell, he continued weeping, and was 
indignant towards himself. ''What ails me, " said he; 
" what do I want : is my mother dead suddenly, or has my 
brother fallen on the battle-field ; what can this mean ? '' 
The entire day passed in this state, and when evening 
came on, he slept a few moments, being overcome with 
fatigue and wearisomeness ; but he soon awoke, and his 
tears began to flow afresh, without his being able to 
restrain them. He therefore reflected whether he might 
not have committed some grave fault, and invoked the 
divine Mercy to recall it to him : whilst he was examining 
his conscience, he heard an interior voice that exclaimed 
to him: '*Do you forget so quickly that yesterday, 
you judged my faithful servant Catharine in a spirit of 



356 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

pride, and requested her to pray for you through polite- 
ness. '^ 

As soon as Friar Lazarini had received this advertise- 
ment and discerned his fault, his tears subsided and his 
heart became inflamed with a desire of again conversing 
with Catharine. At the first glimmering of day, he 
hastened to knock at the door of her cell. The Blessed, 
who was aware of what her Spouse had done, opened the 
door to Friar Lazarini, who prostrated himself at her 
feet. Catharine also prostrated, and implored him to 
rise, after which they had a lengthy interview, and the 
Religious conjured her to condescend to direct him in the 
%vay of salvation, Catharine, overcome by his instances 
answered him: ''The way of salvation for you is, to 
despise the vanities of the world and its smiles, to become 
humble, poor, and destitute in imitation of Jesus Christ 
and your holy Father, Saint Francis. '^ At these words 
the Religious saw that Catharine read his soul ; he shed 
tears profusely and promised to do whatever she might 
command him. He accomplished his promise, distributed 
his money, and useless furniture, and even his books. 
He merely reserved a few notes, which were necessary 
aids to him when preaching, and became truly poor, and 
a veritable follower of our Blessed Redeemer. 

During Catharine's sojourn at Pisa, a great number of 
persons visited her, and many knelt down before her, and 
kissed her hand. Some persons were scandalized at this, 
and were desirous of putting an end to this devotion. 
A celebrated Physician among others, Jean Gutalebracia 
who could not persuade any one against her, resolved to 
confound Catharine, by proposing to her difficulties in 
the Sacred Writings. He invited Pierre Albizi, a 
Counsellor at law of mature age and consummate pru- 



DEPOSITION OF BARTHOLOMEW OF SIENNA. 357 

dence, to accompany him, and went to pay a visit to her. 
The Doctor opened the conversation in the following 
manner: ''We have heard your virtues praised, and your 
intelligence in the Holy Scriptures, and we are come in 
the hope of receiving from your mouth some spiritual 
consolation. I am anxious to know how you understand 
that passage, in which it is said, God spoke in order to 
create the World : *' has God a mouth and a tongue ?'^ 
He addressed her several other similar questions, and 
awaited her reply. Catharine then rejoined: ''I am 
astonished that you who teach others, (as you inform me,) 
should present yourself before a poor woman whose 
ignorance it would be more suitable to you to enlighten. 
But as you wish me to reply, I will do so in accordance 
with what God will inspire me. What benefit will it 
prove to me to know how God who is a pure spirit, 
spoke in order to create the universe ? What is neces- 
sary for both you and me to know, is, that our Lord Jesus 
Christ, the only Son of God, has assumed our nature to 
save us, and that he suffered and died for our redemption. 
Yes, the essential for me is, to believe this and to medi- 
tate on it, so that ray heart may be inflamed with love 
towards him who so loved me." 

Catharine continued speaking some time with such 
unction and fervor, that Dr. Pierre Albizi, could not 
refrain from shedding tears, and fell on his knees to 
obtain her forgiveness for having come to tempt her. 
Catharine prostrated herself also, conjuring him to arise, 
and when she had succeeded they held a long and plea- 
sant discourse on spiritual subjects. When departing, 
Pierre Albizi implored Catharine to be so condescending 
as to present his new-born infant at the Baptismal Font — 
she cheerfully consented, and he who was hitherto 



358 LITE OP ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

bitterly prejudiced against her, became one of her warmest 
defenders. 

In reference to these honors that were paid to Catha- 
rine, another person, enjoying a great reputation for 
piety, wrote her a letter, from excellent motives, and 
with excellent arguments, reproving her for suffering such 
attentions. He recalled to her the example of the 
Saviour and of the Saints, exhorted her to live in retire- 
ment, and told her that the real servants of God loved 
solitude above all things, and that hypocrites only sought 
renown. This letter was forwarded to Father Raymond 
who communicated its contents to me. We were in- 
dignant and intended without even showing it to 
Catharine, to respond to the writer, and reproach him 
with his temerity and his ignorance of the spiritual 
life. Whilst we were conferring together on that sub- 
ject, the Blessed perceived our trouble and inquired 
of us the cause ; as soon as she had learned it, she 
claimed the letter, and as we hesitated to give it to 
her, she said "If you refuse it to me, I must at least 
hear what concerns me in it " Father Raymond then 
read her the letter ; she gently rebuked us for indulg- 
ing indignation. ''You ought, to thank with me the 
author of that letter ; do you not perceive that he gives 
me valuable advice for my salvation ? he fears that I 
may wander in the paths of God, and he is anxious to 
shield me from the snares of the enemy. Let us be 
filled with gratitude for his charity, I must have that 
letter and return thanks to the author of it.'' She did 
so in effect, in an admirable manner, and as Father Ray- 
mond did not submit to her reasons, and continued to 
wish to reply to it, she gave him a severe look, and 



DEPOSITION OF BARTHOLOMEW OP SIENNA. 359 

reproached us with discovering evil where there was but 
good. (Born Mai^tene, p. 1355.) 

Father Bartholomew then explains the apparent differ- 
ences, between his depositions and the writings of Friar 
Raymond. These differences are not contradictory ; they 
prove like those that are found in the Gospel, the inde- 
pendence and sincerity of the witnesses. He afterwards 
proceeds to describe his last interview with Catharine : 

'' When she became sick, I was Prior of the Convent 
of Sienna, and the Provincial of the Order sent me on 
some business to Rome, I arrived there on Holy Satur- 
day ; I hastened to the residence of Catharine, of whose 
state I was utterly ignorant. I found her extended on 
planks, surrounded on every side by other planks, so that 
she seemed to be in a coffin. I approached her, in the 
hope of being able to converse with her as usual. Her 
body was so emaciated, that her bones could be easily 
counted, it appeared to have been sun-dried, and no 
longer presented the same beauty. This sight broke my 
heart, and I said to her amid my tears : '' Mother, how 
do you find yourself. '^ When she descried me she was 
anxious to testify her joy, but she could not speak, and I 
was obliged to place my ear close to her mouth, to be 
able to understand her reply, that ''all was going on 
well, thanks to our beloved Saviour I'' I then disclosed 
to her the motive of my journey, and added : *' Mother, 
to-morrow will be the Passover of our Lord, and I should 
like to celebrate it here, so as to give the Holy Eucharist 
to yourself and your spiritual children.^' She answered; 
*' Oh 1 would that our sweet Saviour would permit me to 
communicate 1'' 

I left her, and on the following day, I returned to ful- 
fill ray promise ; I approached her so as to hear her 



360 ^ LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

confession and give her absolution ; no one hoped to see 
her go to holy Communion ; for during several days she 
had been incapable of making any movement. However 
I gave her for penance, to ask of God, for her consola- 
tion and ours, the grace of receiving Communion on so 
great a Festival ; and I then went to the Altar which 
was quite close to her bed. I prepared the hosts and 
then commenced Mass. Catharine remained motionless 
until the holy Communion ; as soon as I had terminated 
and had taken the ablutions, she got up suddenly, to the 
great astonishment of all present, who shed tears of joy ; 
she advanced unassisted, as far as the Altar, knelt down 
with her eyes closed, her hands clasped, and remained 
there until she had received the consecrated Host, and 
the wine it was customary to present for washing the mouth. 
She afterwards fell into an ordinary ecstasy, and when 
she came forth from it, it \vas impossible for her to return 
to her bed ; her companions carried her there, and she 
remained on it in a state of perfect immobility as before. 
God permitted her liowever to converse with me, during 
the few days that I still remained in Rome, and it was 
then that she explained to me the incredible pains and 
sufferings that the demons forced her to undergo. She 
prayed with unabated ardor for the peace of the Church ; 
she desired and asked of God to expiate in her person, the 
sins of those who separated the faithful from the real 
Sovereign Pontiff, Urban YI. *' Be assured/^ said she, 
*'that if I die J the sole cause of my death is the zeal 
which burns and consumes me for the holy Church. 
I suffer gladly for her deliverance and am i^eady to 
die for her, if it he necessary,'^ ^ 

The affairs that led me to Rome were terminated when 
my companion pressed me to return, I constantly resisted, 



DEPOSITION OF BARTHOLOMEW OP SIENNA. 361 

and I told this to Catharine. She said that I must go 
back to him that sent us. ''Mother/' said I, ''how can 
we go and leave you in such extremity ? Were I absent 
and were informed of your condition, I would quit all 
and hasten to your side. No, I cannot resolve to depart 
without seeing you convalescent, or without at least hav- 
ing reasons for hope in your recovery. '' Catharine said : 
*'My son, you well know how great consolation I expe- 
rience in beholding those whom God has given me, and 
whom I love in the Truth. It would give me the great- 
est pleasure, would our Lord accord me the presence of 
Father Raymond as well as yours ; but it is his intention 
that I should be deprived of them, and as I desire not 
my will but his, you must depart. You know that at 
Cologne a Chapter of your Order will soon be celebrated 
for the election of a General Master. Friar Raymond 
will be nominated ; I wish you to be there with him, and 
always be obedient to him. I command you this as far 
as I have power.'' 

I then told her that I would do whatever she com- 
manded me, as soon as I saw her better in health, and I 
added : " If it is God's will that I go, ask him to give 
you health before my departure. " She promised me to 
to do so, and when I returned there on the following 
day, I found her so calm and contented, that I approach- 
ed her full of hope. But she, who had hitherto remained 
immoveable, extended her arms towards me and embraced 
me so affectionately that I could not refrain from shedding 
tears of joy ; it was to make known to me God's will, 
and exhort me to depart. "The Lord had deceived 
me," to speak like the Prophet — Seduxisti me, Domine, 
et seductus sum; fortior me ffiisti et invaluisti. (Jer. 
XX. T.) I left Rome. A short time after I had returned 

81 



362 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

to Sienna, a letter informed me that the saintly Catharine 
had quitted this life to be united to the Spouse she so 
much desired. 

Friar Bartholomew, at the conclusion of his second 
deposition, gives a letter to M. Thomas Petra, Notary 
of the Sovereign Pontiff, in which he thus describes a 
vision that he had after Catharine's death ; ''In the lat- 
ter period of Catharine's life, Our Lord granted me the 
grace of being united to her by the bonds of a pure and 
holy affection. She styled me her Father, and I often 
saw her. One day, I found her in the garden of a lady 
in Kome ; she was very mnch enfeebled, and I said to 
her : ''Mother, it appears to me that Christ, your Spouse, 
wishes to withdraw you from this life in order to unite 
you to himself. Have you made all your dispositions in 
consequence?" " What disposition can a poor woman 
make who owns nothing?" "You would make a fine 
testament if you were to indicate to each of your disciples 
what he ought to do after your death. I request it of 
yon, for the love of God, and I am convinced that all 
will obey you as myself." She answered : '* I am very 
willing, and I will do so with God's grace." She did so 
in effect, a little while after, and all her recommendations 
were followed. I added : " Mother I have another favor to 
ask of you, and I beseech you to grant it to me for the love 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Obtain from this moment 
from your divine Spouse the favor of showing me the 
state of your soul after your death." "That," said she 
tome, "does not appear possible; for, either the soul 
in the other life is saved, and then the perfect happiness 
which it enjoys, leads it to forget the miseries of this 
world ; or it is lost, and then the infinite torments that it 
endures prevent it from obtaining that favor. If it be in 



DEPOSITION OF BARTHOLOMEW OF SIENNA. 363 

Purgatory it must participate in the two states, and the 
diflfieulty remains the same.'' I said : '' I am unwilling 
to dispute with the Holy Ghost, and I do not believe 
that you would, in such a case, limit his power. I trust 
in God, and do not refuse me my request." She pro- 
mised me to grant it, if our Lord would permit. She 
died a short time after. 

Eight days had elapsed since her death, when very 
early one morning, a man of exalted piety, named Jean 
de Pise, came and knocked at my door. I opened it 
directly. '' Catharine of Sienna is coming,'' said he to 
me. I answered him : '' How can she come, for she has 
been dead some time." He said : " Be sure that you will 
see her." Then he went away and I could not call him 
back. The morrow, the day after it, and during nearly 
thirty days, I received a similar visit from men estimable 
for their virtues and their saintly lives. I presume they 
were angels from God, who took their forms to announce 
to me what was to take place. At last, one Sunday, 
after having recited my midnight Office, I disposed my- 
self to take a little repose, when, towards day-break, I 
saw in a cloudless sky, a multitude of Blessed Spirits 
who advanced in regular procession ; they were clothed 
in white and and marched three by three, bearing orna- 
ments, relics, crosses, silver chandeliers, lighted tapers, 
and musical instruments, and they sung in several choirs, 
sacred Hymns, the Kyrie Eleison^ the Gloria in Excel- 
sis, the Sanctus, the Benedictus^ and the Te Deum. 

The magnificence of this spectacle ravished me com- 
pletely, nevertheless I remembered the promise that had 
been given me, I took courage and said to one of the 
Angels: ''What are you doing?" He answered me: 
'' We are conducting the soul of Catharine of Sienna, in 



364 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

presence of the divine Majesty. " When he had passed 
on, with those who accompanied him. I addressed 
another ; I said ; '' Where is she ?'^ Directly he heard 
me, the whole procession formed an extended circle in 
the centre of which was Catharine : she was clad like the 
Angels, and resembled the Saviour, (as he is painted in 
the tribune of Churches.) Her hands were filled with 
palm-branches, — her head was inclined, and her eyes 
modestly cast down. I recognized her perfectly well by 
her exterior. I then asked Almighty God to complete 
the vision, and to comfort my soul by allowing me to be- 
hold Catharine's countenance. I was heard, she raised 
her head and looked at me with that gracious smile, 
which always expressed the joy of her soul. The pro- 
cession then resumed its onward march, continuing the 
heavenly chants. 



BARDUCCIO. 

THE LETTER OF BARDUCCIO WAS WRITTEN LONG BEFORE THE PROCESS 
AT VENICE. IT IS TO BE REGRETTED THAT, THAT HOLT YOUNG MAN 
WAS UNABLE TO JOIN BIS DEPOSITION TO THOSE OF THE OTHER 
DISCIPLES OF SAINT CATHARINE. OUR SAINT ESTEEMED HIM PARTIC- 
ULARLY, AND HE SURVIVED HER BUT A SHORT TIME. 

LETTER OF SER BARDUCCIO DI. P. CANIGIANI, 

To his Sister Maria Fetriboni, at the convent of St, 
Pierre de Monticeliy near Florence, 

In the Name of Jesus Christ, 

My very dear Mother in our Lord, and Sister in holy - 
affection to the saintly Catharine, I, Barduccio, unworthy 
and miserable sinner, commend myself to your prayers, as 
a feeble child, left an Orphan by the death of our 
glorious Mother. 

I received your letter and read its contents with the 

greatest pleasure, communicating them to my afflicted 

Religious ; they thank you from the depth of their hearts, 

for your charity, and the tenderness you condescend to 

bear them. They commended themselves to your prayers 

and likewise solicit those of the Prioress and the other 

Sisters, that they may accomplish with zeal the good 

pleasure of God towards themselves, and in your behalf. 

Tender and faithful Daughter, you desire to become 

acquainted with the details of the last moments of our 

common Mother, and I must satisfy your desire ; I feel 

myself quite incapable of such a recital, however I will 
( 365 ) ai* 



366 LITE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

write to you what my eyes witnessed and what my poor 
soul was able to comprehend. 

That favoured \^irgin, that Mother so useful to the 
Church, experienced about the feast of the Circumcision, 
so great disorder in her whole system, soul and body, 
that she was obliged to change completely her manner of 
living. The food necessary for her corporeal sustenance 
exited such horror, that she was obliged to do violence to 
herself even to touch it, and when she partook of any, it 
was impossible for her to swallow it. She could not even 
drink a single drop of water for her refreshment, though 
she was consumed with a burning thirst, and her throat 
was so inflamed that she seemed to breathe fire. She 
however continued to appear active and gay as usual, 
and thus attained to Sexagesima. On that day, whilst she 
was praying at Yespers, there occurred an accident so 
grave that from that moment she was never able to 
recover her wonted health. On the night of the fol- 
lowing Monday, after dictating a letter to me, she had so 
violent a crisis that we mourned her as dead. She 
remained a long time without giving the smallest sign of 
life, then she suddenly arose and appeared as though she 
had undergone no change whatever. 

From that moment, commenced for her new and extra- 
ordinary corporeal sufferings. When Lent began, she 
applied, notwithstanding her infirmities, with so much 
devotion to meditation, that she astonished us by the 
abundance of her humble sighs and by the greatness of 
her moanings. You are aware that her prayer was so 
fervent that one hour of mental prayer weakened her 
delicate frame more than two days of uninterrupted 
spiritual exercises would fatigue any other person. Every 
morning after Communion, they were obliged to raise her 



LETTER OF BARDUCCIO. 36T 

from the floor and carry her to her bed as though she 
were dead. An hour or two after, she would arise, and 
we would go to St. Peter^s, a mile distant, there she 
would stay until the Yespers, and then return in an almost 
lifeless condition 

Such were her exercises until the third Sunday of Lent; 
she then bowed beneath the weight of sufferings which 
overwhelmed her exhausted body, and the anguish that 
rent her soul in view of the sins that were committing 
against God, and the dangers which more and more 
sensibly threatened the holy Church. She was one mass 
of interior and exterior suffering, and thus she continued 
during eight entire weeks, being unable even to raise her 
head. In the midst of that martyrdom, she frequently 
said, '' These dolors are physical, hut they are not 
natural, God allows the demons to torment me thus.^^ 
It was evident that what she advanced was correct, and 
that those sufferings were unheard of. It is impossible 
to give an idea of the patience she displayed, I will 
merely say that at each new torture, she joyously elevated 
her heart and her eyes to God, saying: ''Thanks be to 
thee, my ever-living Spouse, who dost continually 
crown thy hand-maid so poor and wretched with new 
proofs of thy favor. '^ 

Her body was thus consumed until the Sunday preced- 
ing the Ascension ; it was then reduced to that state in 
which Painters represent death. Her countenance how- 
ever was beaming with Angelic devotion, whilst her limbs 
seemed to be a mere skeleton covered with a transparent 
skin. Her strength was so annihilated that it was quite 
impossible for her to turn herself from one side to the 
other. The night that preceded Sunday, two hours 
before morning's dawn, she had a strong crisis, and we 



368 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

believed that she was on the verge of her last moments. 
She then called all her family around her, and gave those 
who were nearest her to understand by signs that she was 
desirous of receiving absolution from her faults. Her 
wish was gratified. She gradually fell into a state in 
which there was no perceptible sign of life but a gentle 
sighing. It was therefore deemed expedient to give her 
Extreme Unction, and the Abbe de- Saint- Anthime hast- 
ened to administer it to her, because she appeared to be 
already destitute of consciousness. This Sacrament 
accomplished a certain change in her, it seemed by the 
motion of her countenance and of her arms that she was 
sustaining assaults from Satan. The combat lasted an 
hour and a half. After keeping silence some time, 
she commenced saying: ^'I have sinned, Lord, have 
mercy on me, — peccavi, Dominey miserere mei,^^ I 
think she repeated these words more than sixty times, 
and every time she raised her right hand and then let it 
fall, striking the bed. Then, she also said frequently, 
but without moving the arm, ^' Saints of God, have pity 
on me, — Sancti Dei, miserere mei.^^ She added other 
words expressive of her humility and her devotion, and 
made acts of the different virtues. After which her( 
countenance suddenly changed, and became radiant like 
that of a Seraph. Her eyes obscured by tears, became 
lighted with joy, she seemed to come forth from a pro- 
found abyss, and that sight softened the heavy burden of 
grief that weighed upon us. 

Catharine was at that time reclining on the shoulder of ^ 
Sister Alessia ; she tried to rise, and with a little help re- 
mained in a sitting posture, though still supported by 
Alessia. We had placed before her view a little table on 
which were some relics and pictures of Saints ; but she 



LETIER OF BARDUCCIO. 369 

fastened her gaze upon the Cross which was in the centre, 
expressing sublime thoughts concerning the goodness of 
God. Then she accused herself before Him of all her 
sins. ''Yes, it is my fault/' said she, '* Eternal Trin- 
ity ! if I have so miserably offended Thee by my 
negligence, my ignorance, my ingratitude and my dis- 
obedience. Alas ! wretched me, I have not observed 
the general and particular commandments that thy bounty 
has given to me. Thou didst tell me to seek Thee in all 
things and to labor continually for thy honor and the 
neighbor's good, and I have avoided fatigue even though 
it were necessary. Didst thou .not command me my 
God I not to value myself, to think only of the glory of 
thy Name, by saving souls, and finding my delight in the 
nourishment which flows from thy sacred Cross ; and I have 
sought my own consolation I Thou didst continually in- 
vite me to unite myself to Thee by the ardor of desires, 
the humility of tears, and perseverance in prayer for the 
salvation of the world and the reform of the Church ; 
thou didst promise me to accord thy mercies to men, and 
new treasures to thy Spouse ; and unhappy me, I did not 
obey thy wishes, I slept in my negligence. Alas ! thou 
didst confide souls to me, thou didst give me children 
that I was bound to love in a special manner and conduct 
towards Thee, in the way of life. I have been dis- 
tinguished for my weakness towards them, I have failed 
in solicitude for their interests, I have not succored them 
by addressing Thee an humble and continual prayer, I 
have neglected giving them good examples and useful 
advice. Wretched me ! with how little respect I have 
received the innumerable graces and treasures of pain and 
^suffering, that it has pleased Thee to grant me. I did 
not gather them with that insatiable desire and that 



3T0 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

buraiug love which thou didst experience when sending 
them to me. Alas ! my Love 1 thy infinite goodness 
chose me for thy Spouse, in my tender infancy ; but I 
have not been faithful enough to thee, for my memory has 
not always remained full of thee and of thy immense 
benefits ; for my understanding has not been solely 
attached to their comprehension, and my will has not 
been devoted to loving thee with all my soul and all my 
strength." 

In this manner that pure dove accused herself of her 
faults ; then turning towards the Priest, she said to him ; 
^'For the love of Jesus. Christ crucified, remit me the 
sins of which I have accused myself, as well as all 
those which I cannot recall. '^ She then asked for the 
plenary Indulgence which had been granted to her by 
Gregory XII., and Urban YI., and in requesting it, she 
appeared famished for the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Her petitions were granted. She began her adorations 
anew, and with such fervor and in uttering such sublime 
things as my sinfulness rendered me wholly unfit to com- 
prehend. The grief which inundated my soul also 
hindered me from hearing her, for her voice was so feeble, 
and her sufi'erings so keen that she pronounced her words 
with great difficulty. She afterwards addressed some of 
her spiritual children who were not present at the admir- 
able discourse which she gave several days previous to 
her assembled family, pointing out the way of perfection 
and indicating to each one what he should do after her 
death. When she had finished, she^ asked pardon of us 
all for the little care she had taken of our salvation, and 
also addressed a few words to Lucio, to another, and to 
myself, miserable man, after which she resumed her 
prayer. 



LETTER OF BARDUCCIO. 371 

Oh I had you but seeu with what humility and with 
what respect, she asked repeatedly the benediction of 
her aged Mother, who was plunged into the deepest 
affliction. How could one restrain his tears when behold- 
ing that tender Mother who recommended herself to the 
highly privileged nay ! blessed Daughter, and implored 
her to obtain grace for her not to ojfend God in her 
grief! But nothing could distract that holy soul from 
her deeply fervent prayer, and the nearer she approached 
death, the more she prayed for the Holy Catholic Church 
for which she offered in sacrifice her life. She also 
prayed for Pope Urban Yl. whom she declared to be 
the real Sovereign Pontiff, and she exhorted all her chil- 
dren to die, were it necessary, in order to acknowledge 
him. She also offered prayer for all those whom tlie 
Lord had given her to love in a special manner, and she 
borrowed from our Lord the words she adopted, — when 
he commended his disciples to his Father. She expres- 
sed herself with such devout tenderness that we thought 
our hearts would cleave asunder. 

Finally, she made the sign of the Cross, blessed us all, 
and hailed that supreme moment of life that she so much 
desired, pronouncing these words: '*Yes, Lord, thou 
callest me and I go to thee ; / go, not on account of my 
merits, but merely on account of thy mercies, and that 
mercy I implore in the name of thy precious Blood.'' 
She cried out several time : ''Oh! Blood, Oh 1 precious 
Blood. '' And then in imitation of the Saviour she said : 
''Father into thy hands I commend my spirit. '^ And, 
with a countenance radiant as an Angel's she meekly 
bowed her head and expired. 

Her death occurred, at Sext. We kept her body until 
Complin on Tuesday, without the least sign of corruption, 



312 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

it was on the contrary cool, and exhaled a pleasant odor. 
Her arms, neck and legs were flexible during those three 
days as though she had been alive, An immense crowd 
visited her precious remains, and those who could 
succeed in touching them, considered themselves highly 
favored. 

God accomplished many miracles at that time, which 
I pass over in silence. Her tomb is honored with 
devotion as are the tombs of other Saints in Rome, and 
numberless graces have been obtained through the name 
of that faithful Spouse of the Saviour. I doubt not 
you have already heard what they were, hence I will not 
inform you more at length. I commend myself to the 
Prioress and to all the Sisters, for truly, I never so much 
needed prayers. May God preserve you and give you 
an increase of his heavenly grace ! 



1 



ETIENNE MACONL 

ETIENNE MACONI, WAS ONE OF THE MOST CHERISHED DISCIPLES OF CATH- 
ARINE AND ONE OF THE MOST ZEALOUS FOR HER GLORY. WHEN DYING 
THE SAINT COMMANDED HIM TO ENTER THE ORDER OF THE CARTHU- 
SIANS, WHICH HE ADORNED WITH HIS LIGHTS, AND HIS VIRTUES. 
(THIRD PART. FIRST CHAPTER, P. 254.) HE DIED IN 1424, AND WAS 
INTERRED AT THE CHARTREUSE IM PA VIA. HIS LIFE WAS WRITTEN 
BY A CARTHUSIAN, DOM BARTHOLOMEW OF SIENNA ; IT WAS PUBLISH- 
ED IN 1626. THE TITLE OF '^ BLFSSED " IS GENERALLY GIVEN TO 
ETIENNE MACONI, BUT HIS FESTIVAL IS NOT CELEBRATED. THE 
BOLLANDISTS HAVE EXTRACTED SOME FACTS FROM HIS LIFE, RELATIVE 
TO THE HISTORY OF ST. CATHARINE, WE SHALL RECAPITULATE THEM 
BRIEFLY. 

The occasion of the conversion of Etienne Maconi was 
his reconcilation with the enemies of his family, as he 
himself relates in his deposition ; but through delicacy 
no doubt, he does not give the following details. 

The enemies of the Maconi were the Tholomei and the 
Rinaldini. The Saint had fixed a day in which they 
were to be reconciled in the Church of St. Christopher ; 
but the pride of their nobility and their power unsettled 
their minds anew. They were unfaithful to their appoint- 
ment, and avoided meeting Catharine, or any of the 
Maconi family. Catharine, was informed of it. ^^ They 
will not listen to me," said she, '* but willing, or unwilling 
they shall be obliged to listen to Almighty God.'^ She 
went immediately to the Church whither she had 
convoked Etienne Maconi with his father Conrad and his 
other relatives. She placed herself before the principal 
Altar, and offered frequent prayers to Heaven. Whilst 

she was praying, ravished in ecstacy, those who refused 

32 373 



SI 4: LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

to be reconciled, came to the Church, unknown to one 
another. God b7^ought them tJiei^e ! As soon as they 
saw the Blessed in prayer and perceived, as they after- 
wards admitted, the rays of divine light that darted from 
her countenance, they felt themselves vanquished and 
ready to renounce their anger ; they addressed themselves 
to Catharine who returned to her ordinary state ; they 
charged her to regulate the conditions, and all soon 
embraced each other and mutually asked pardon. 

Etienne Maconi formed part of the Confraternity of 
the Blessed Virgin, which assembled in the basement of 
the hospital of Sienna, for various exercises of piety. 
He allowed himself on one occasion to be drawn into a 
conspiracy which was plotting against the government in 
that place consecrated to prayer. Catharine discovered it 
supernaturally, cried out : ** my son Etienne what evil do 
you contrive in your heart ? What are yon doing ? Is it 
thus that you change the house of God into a workshop 
for treason !" Her companions were astonished at hear- 
ing these words, and suspected there was question of 
some great secret. A few days after, Etienne came to 
visit Catharine as usual ; but before he had time to 
speak to her, Catharine cried out to him ; *' Is it thus, 
Etienne, that you risk the loss of both your soul and 
body ? What a stupid project ! Return I entreat you, 
return to yourself, and reject from your heart the venom 
of conspiracy. You deceive yourself if you imagine that 
we can with impunity turn the house of God into a den 
of conspirators. To wash away the fault you have com- 
mitted, go and in that spot witness to it, shed by scourg- 
ing yourself, as many drops of blood as you uttered guilty 
words. '^ Etienne perceiving himself discovered, with- 



ETTENNE MACONl'S DEPOSITION. 3T5 

drew and submissively performed what she had com- 
manded him. 

Etienne became one of Catharine's secretaries, accom- 
panied her in her journey to Avignon, was present during 
her agony, and paid the last duties to her remains. He 
carried her corpse on his shoulders to the church of the 
Minerva, guarded it piously, so long as it was exposed, 
and buried it, covering it with kisses and tears. He was 
afterwards faithful to the worship of his saintly Mother, 
and zealously collected her relics and whatever could 
preserve her memory. He assisted Friar Raymond a 
a great deal in the writing of her life. At the period of 
the translation of the head of St. Catharine, to Sienna, 
he was miraculously warned of the feast that would take 
place on that occasion, and he went out to meet those 
who came to invite him. 

This ceremony took place in 1385, amid a concourse 
of people and clergy, who carried lighted torches and 
made the air resound with pious canticles. The kindred 
and the disciples of Catharine surrounded the precious 
relic ; but every eye was intent upon the aged Lapa, who 
had seen more than 80 revolving suns, and who walked 
in procession beside the head of her daughter. " Oh ! but 
thou art happy," said they to her, ''to witness the 
triumph of thy daughter ! Catharine is in Heaven and 
thou art sure of receiving there the recompense of all thy 
sufferings. How could it be otherwise, than that she 
who has promoted the salvation of so many souls will pro- 
cure thy eternal happiness?'' In effect the good Lapa 
died at the age of 89, with such sentiments of piety, that 
it is evident she went to enjoy in heaven the affectionate 
embrace of her holy daughter. 

Etienne Maconi was miraculously healed of a xiisease 



3T6 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

in the eyes by a relic of St. Catharine. He had obtained 
the ring-finger of the Blessed and placed it in a beautiful 
reliquary. When he lost his sight, to such a degree as 
not to be able to write or to fulfill the duties of his Office, 
he took the precious relic in his hands, and kneeling 
down, he thus invoked his protectress in heaven : ** O 
Mother ! who didst bring me forth to the life of grace ; 
behold me almost deprived of sight, and unable to 
accomplish any longer, what I desire to do for the glory 
of thy heavenly Spouse. I do not refuse to become blind 
and I will cheerfully accept all the crosses that God may 
deign to send me ; but prove to me that my attachment 
is agreeable to thee ; I implore with confidence an assis- 
tance that thou hast so frequently granted to me, and 
with this motive I touch notwithstanding my unworthiness 
thy holy relics.'^ So saying, he applied the finger of the 
beatified Catharine to his diseased eyes. His hope was 
not deceived ; the pain instantly disappeared and he 
recovered his sight perfectly. To crown his joy, he heard 
a voice that told him not to fear anything, because she 
who formerly protected him on earth, would still protect 
him in heaven. 

Etienne Maconi used strenuous efforts to hasten Catha- 
rine's canonization. Gregory XII. sent for him to 
Sienna to labor for it there, but the troubles of the church 
suspended the informations. Etienne was one of the 
most active in organizing the anniversary feasts of the 
the Blessed at Sienna, at Venice, and in other cities ; he 
composed, in order to spread a knowledge of her life and 
miracles, some dramas that were played on that day in 
great magnificence. Years only increased his zeal and 
his affection to Catharine, and he toiled until his last 
moment to propagate her honor and devotion. 



LETTER OF THE BLESSED ETIENNE 
MACONI, 

CONCERNING THE DEEDS AND VIRTUES OF SAINT CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

To THE pious and good Brother d'Antonio, of the 
Order of Preaching Friars, residing at the Convent of 
SS. John and Paul in Venice, Friar Etienne of Sienna, 
notwithstanding his unworthiness, Prior of the Chartreuse 
de-Sainte-Marie des graces, near Pavia, health in Him 
who is the salvation of all. 

I received joyfully and read attentively the letters in 
which you ask of me a faithful deposition, in authentic 
form, concerning the life, virtues and doctrine of the 
Virgin, Catharine of Sienna ; you remind me of my 
numerous relations with her during her life-time, and 
claim my testimony on the occasion of certain complaints 
which have been made to the Bishop of Venice, in refer- 
ence to the Feast commemorative of that holy woman, 
many being unwilling to believe in the virtues that are 
attributed to her. 

I must acknowledge, that, although a citizen of Sienna, 
neither I nor mine had any acquaintance with Catharine 
and her relatives previous to the year 1376. At that time 
I was drawn away by the vortex of the cares of the pre- 
sent life, and had no sort of idea of forming her 
acquaintance ; but the eternal Bounty, who wills the 
death of none, saved my soul from the abyss of perdition 
by means of that saintly Virgin. We were then in open 
contest (without fault on our part,) with a family more 
C 377 ) 82* 



3T8 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

powerful than ours, and notwithstanding the negotiations 
and efforts of honorable citizens, it was impossible to ob- 
tain from our enemies any hope of adjustment. 

Catharine then enjoyed a great reputation in Tuscany, 
and every body was celebrating her virtues and relating won- 
derful things concerning her. I was told that if I asked her 
to intercede in this affair she would certainly obtain peace 
as she had already done so many times. I took counsel of 
a gentleman who having been thus reconciled had become 
Catharine's friend. As soon as he heard me, he answered 
me directly : — '^ Be sure that you w^ill find no one in the 
city more capable of effecting peace ; do not defer, and 
I wdll accompany you." We paid her a visit and she re- 
ceived me, not with tlie bashful timidity of a young maiden 
as I had fancied, but with the tenderness of a sister who 
saw once again a brother who had been absent on a long 
journey. I was perfectly astonished and I gathered 
eagerly the pious discourse which she held, engaging me 
to confess and live like a good Christian. I said, the 
finger of God is there. Digitus Dei est hie. When I 
explained to her the object of my visit, she answered me 
unhesitatingly : '* Go, ray Son, trust in the Lord ; I will 
do all in my power to procure a satisfactory reconcilia- 
tion : allow me to take charge of this affair. '' Thanks 
to her intercession, we obtained the peace in a miraculous 
manner, notwithstanding my adversaries' great influence. 

On account of this reconciliation I visited her often, 
and every day, by the efficacy of her words and the per- 
fection of her examples, I felt within me a blessed 
change. At that period she asked me to write some 
letters under her dictation ; I accepted with joy, and 
soon I felt my heart inflamed with a new ardor for 
heavenly things. I despised the world and all that be- 



LETTER OF BLESSED ETIENNE MACONI. 3T9 

longed to it, and conceived so much shame for my past 
life that I could not even think upon it. This change 
appeared exteriorly, and nearly all the city was in aston- 
ishment. The more I examined the life, the examples, 
the manners, and the conversation of that privileged 
virgin, the more I felt growing within me the love of 
God and a contempt for the world. 

A little while after, Catharine said tome in secret : "You 
will see, my dear son, that ere long your highest wish 
shall be accomplished/' That saying amazed me much ; 
I did not know what I could desire in the worlds I was 
thinking rather of quitting it entirely. I said to her : 
*' My very dear Mother, what is that greatest desire ? '' 
She replied, '^Look into your heart'' I said "Beloved 
Mother, I do not find any greater desire than that of 
remaining near you." She answered instantly, " It shall 
be satisfied." For myself, I could not understand how 
that could be done without violating the rules of pro- 
priety ; but He to whom nothing is impossible, by a 
marvelous act of his will, arranged that she should be 
sent to Avignon to Gregory XI. and then, notwithstand- 
ing my unworthiness, I was chosen to travel in her holy 
company. I quitted with joy my father, my mother, my 
brothers and sisters, and all my kindred ; so glad was I 
to enjoy the intimacy of Catharine and her virginal 
presence I 

In consequence of this voyage, the Sovereign Pontiff 
returned to Rome, encouraged and fortified by Catharine 
who had received that special mission. The Holy 
Father sent her to Florence, on affairs of the Church. 
That city had revolted against his power, and God per- 
formed many extraordinary things there by means of his 
servant, as may be seen in her memoirs. I had the 



380 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

happiness of accompaujing her. In fine I went with her 
to Rome, where after having experienced with joy, 
unheard of siififerings for the glory of God, she happily 
attained the term of her terrestrial pilgrimage. I carried 
her body with my own hands to the church of the Minerva, 
where it is deposited iu a coffin or chest of cypress-wood, 
and enclosed in a handsome monument. 

In her last moments she told each one of us what we 
ou^rht to do after her decease ; then she turned towards 
me and pointing me out with her finger said: ^'As to 
you, I command you on the part of Almighty God, and 
iu the name of holy Obedience, to enter the Order of the 
Carthusians, because God wills it, and calls you to it: '' 
And as she beheld us in tears on all sides : " My beloved 
children," said she, ''you should not be distressed, but 
rejoice in the Lord and regard this as a festival day ; for 
I am about to leave my prison, to be united to the Spouse 
of ray soul, and I promise you to be more useful to you 
after my death, than I could possibly have been during 
my life." That promise she kept, and never ceases to 
observe it daily. 

As a proof I will declare, to my shame, a circumstance 
for the honor of God and praise of Catharine. When 
she commanded me to enter the Order of the Chartreux, 
I had never thought of that nor of any other Order, but 
as soon as she ascended to Heaven, I felt in my heart 
so strong a desire of obeying her, that had the whole 
world opposed it, I should have paid no kind of attention 
to it, and indeed I have proved it. This is not the time 
nor place to relate all that Catharine did and still does 
for her unworthy son. I merely declare, that after God 
and his holy Mother, I consider myself more indebted to 
her than to all other beings. 



LETTER OF BLESSED ETIEXNE MACONl. 381 

It will be seen that, during several years, I had very 
intimate relations with Catharine, because I wrote her 
letters, she also informed me concerning her most secret 
transactions and dictated to me a portion of her book. 
She loved me wuth the tenderness of a mother ; much 
more indeed than I deserved ; consequently several of her 
children conceived a strong sentiment of envy. I studied 
with the greatest attention, her words, her conduct and 
all her actions, and I say, in my soul and on my con- 
science, before God and the church militant, sinner as I 
am, that I have frequented more than sixty years the 
company of several great servants of God, but never have 
I seen, never have I heard any one wiio had attained so 
high a degree of perfection or a virtue so exalted. Every 
one recognized in her the image of all the virtues, and 
the pure mirror of all true Christians. I do not remem- 
her ever to have heard an idle word from her virginal 
mouth ! She instantly turned our most frivolous conver- 
sations to our spiritual good. Her heart could never be 
satisfied with speaking of God and sacred things, and I 
think she would never have slept or ate, had she had 
some one to listen to her. When persons spoke in her 
presence of affairs of the world, or on subjects having no 
reference to the salvation of souls, she took refuge in 
contemplation, and her body became insensible as when 
she was in prayer. Her ecstasies were continual, and we 
have witnessed them a thousand times. Her members 
then became motionless and stiff — and it would have been 
easier to have broken them, than to have changed their 
position. To prove that this state was not feigned, I 
will relate a fact of which I was a personal witness. 

When we were at Avignon, the Pope, Gregory XL, 
caused us to have handsome lodgings with a chapel 



382 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

richly adorned. The sister of the Pope, who was a pious 
woman, after holding conversations with Catharine, con- 
ceived a great affection and deep veneration for her. 
She told Father Raymond, her confessor, that she had a 
great desire to be present when that devout person would 
have the happiness of receiving holy Communion. 
Father Raymond promised to notify her. The Sunday 
following^ Catharine entered the chapel, having only 
sandals on her feet. She wished to receive Communion, 
and during her preparation, she was, as usual, ravished 
in ecstacy. Father Raymond called me and told me to go 
to the Palace and tell the Pope's sister, that Catharine 
intended receiving holy Communion this morning. That 
lady was then hearing Mass; when I entered, she per- 
ceived me, and as she recognized me as belonging to 
Catharine's suite, she came to me and said: ''My son, 
what do you wish ?" I communicated my message. She 
quickly repaired with a great many individuals of high 
rank to our residence. Among others she brought with 
her the wife of the Pope's Nephew, Raymond de Turenne ; 
a young person full of vanity and an entire stranger to 
divine things. Whilst the Pope's sister was praying in a very 
recollected manner, this person imagined, I presume, that 
Catharine feigned an ecstasy, and after the Mass, she 
pretended to stoop down, from devotion, to the feet of the 
Saint, and pierced them several times with a great pin. 
Catharine remained motionless and would not have stirred 
even had they cut off her feet. When all the people had 
withdrawn, Catharine resumed the use of her senses and 
then experienced such acute pain in her feet that she 
could hardly walk. Her companions on discovering 
where and how she suffered, remarked the dried blood 



LETTER OF ETIENNE MACCONI. ' 383 

which oozed from her wounds, and thereby understood the 
malice of her who suspected her 1 * 

In reference to Catharine's ecstasies, there is one thing 
which must not be passed over in silence. In the midst 
of difficulties, her soul applied with greater ardor to 
mental prayer, and made such reiterated efforts to raise 
itself towards Heaven, that her body quitted the earth 
without regard to the laws of gravity. Many persons 
have seen her suspended in air, and I have personally 
witnessed that fact, which filled me with the most pro- 
found amazement. The explanation of that phenomenon 
is to be found in the book which Catharine composed, 
and which I partially wrote under her dictation. God 
had granted his faithful Spouse so great power and such 
intimacy, that during her prayers, she would say; ''I 
will itP^ and when she thus spoke she was instantly 
obeyed. We could give many proofs of this. The fol- 
lowing happened to myself on my return to Avignon : 
We remained at Genes more than a month, at the house 
of a respectable lady named Orietta Scotta ; we were 
nearly all sick. Our hostess took great care of us, and 
employed two skillful physicians to come to see us every 
day. I fatigued myself with them, because I was anxious 
to nurse the sick. They warned me that I would become 
ill myself, and indeed, in two or three days, I took to my 
bed with a violent fever accompanied with a strong head- 
ache and very painful vomiting. Catharine having been 
informed of it, came to pay me a visit with her confessors 
and companions, and inquired of me what I was suffer- 
ing. I, quite delighted at her sweet presence, answered 
cheerfully : ** They say that I suffer ; I know not what." 

*Dom Martene, p. 1327. 



384 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

Then with maternal tenderness she placed her virginal 
hand on my forehead and said, shaking her head a little ; 
*' Do you hear that child answering me. * They tell me 
that I suffer^ and I know not what V And he has a vio- 
lent fever;" and she added; **I do not allow you to 
follow the example of the other patients, I command 
you, in virtue of holy obedience no longer to suffer this 
malady. I will that you be completely restored and serve 
the others as usual." She then began talking of God as 
were her custom, and while she conversed I was healed. 
I interrupted her to declare it to all the spectators who 
was in admiration, and I have since enjoyed long years 
of perfect health. Catharine spoke in the same tone of 
authority, when she cured the venerable Giovanni, a 
Monk who dwelt in the solitude of Vallombrosa, as he 
affirmed to me when he was in his last agony, at the Abbey 
of Fassignano, near Sienna. I heard from the very lips 
of Catharine a similar order given in the absence of the 
same Monk, to two of his disciples whom he had sent to 
her. She commanded him by their intermediation to be 
sick no longer, and to come to her without delay, which 
he did immediately. The holy Religious wrote an 
admirable letter on this occasion, which I carefully pre- 
serve in our Convent. 

Although the whole interior and exterior life of Catha- 
rine was, so to speak, miraculous, yet, several servants of 
God, of high integrity, have admired in it one circumstance 
very extraordinary in the pilgrimage of man on earth. What- 
ever she did, said, or heard, never hindered her holy soul 
from being intimately united to God and plunged, as it were 
in the Divinity. As out of the abundance of the heart 
the mouth speaketh, she never conversed except on God, 
and what referred to Him. She sought him, found him, 



LETTER OF BLESSED ETIENNE MACONL 385 

possessed him in all things by an actual and sensible love. 
I recollect that when she saw flowers in a meadow, she 
said to us ; *' Do you not perceive how everything honors 
God and proclaims his praise to us ? Do not those 
crimson flowers represent to us the bleeding wounds of 
Jesus?'' On descrying an ant-hill, she said: *' Those 
little creatures emanated from the sacred thought of God, 
and he used as much care in creating the insects and the 
flowers as in forming the holy Angels.'' We were so 
much consoled by her presence on every occasion, and in 
all things, that, in order to listen to her, we forgot to 
take our repasts ; we thought no more of our pains and 
trials. Those who were condemned to death called for 
her; she visited them often, and they seemed no longer to 
reflect on the destiny that awaited them. In her presence, 
the temptations of Satan vanished ; the sun in its highest 
splendor cannot more triumphantly dissipate darkness. I 
remember often going to her with my interior trouble, 
and afterwards acknowledging that I had forgotten it. I 
would inquire of her what it was, and she would explain 
it to me better than I could have exposed it myself. 

There is in this no reason for astonishment, for it is 
generally known that that holy Virgin saw souls as we 
saw faces ; we could hide nothing from her. And one 
day I said to her, '' Indeed, Mother it is very dangerous 
to be near you, for you discover all our secrets. " '' Know, 
my dear Son," answered she, ''that in souls especially in 
those confided to me, there does not appear a spot or 
even a shadow of a defect that I do not instantly perceive 
by the intermediation of our Divine Saviour." 

Her holy exhortations brought back to the path of rec- 
titude a multitude of persons whom she led to the deter- 
mination of confessing their sins ; — it was impossible to 



386 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OF 8IENNA. 

resist her. On account of the admirable results which 
she accomplished in souls, Pope Gregory XI. allowed 
her always to have three Confessors with very extended 
faculties. Sometimes sinners presented themselves who 
were so in bonds of sin that they would say to her : 
** Madame, were you to ask us to go to Kome or to St. 
James, we would do it directly ; but to go to confession ; 
do not mention it, it is impossible." When she had 
exhausted every other method, she would say to them : 
"If I tell you why you refuse to go to confession, would 
you then go ?" The astonished sinners would accept 
this condition, and she would say to them: " My dear 
Brother, we may sometimes escape the eyes of men, but 
never those of God. You committed such a sin, in 
such a place, and in such a time, and that is the rea- 
son that Satan troubles your soul and hinders you from 
confessing." The sinner finding himself discovered 
would prostrate himself at her feet, and avow his fault 
and with a profusion of tears confess without delay. 
This I can certify occurred to many. One among others 
who held a high position and enjoyed a great reputation 
throughout all Italy, told me : " God and myself alone 
know what that saint revealed to me, I therefore cannot 
doubt that she is much greater before God than we 
think." 

Catharine's exterior life also was miraculous. Her virgi- 
nal body sustained itself a long time without taking any 
material nourishment, the Holy Eucharirt sufficed for it. 
I had it in my power to observe her during several years 
and the following was her mode of life. She held meat, 
wine, confectionary, and eggs in abhorrence ; her com- 
panions prepared her a little salad, when they had it, 
and sometime vegetables dressed in oil. She would only 



LETTER OF BLESSED ETIENNE MACONL 387 

take the head and tail of an eel ; she never took cheese 
except it was spoiled ; it was the same way with grapes 
fresh or dry ; she did not eat of these articles, she merely 
masticated them, with or without bread, and rejected 
them as soon as she had extracted a portion of their 
juice. She often drank pure water, but by little mouth- 
fuls. She waited to take this little nourishment until her 
companions had quitted the table, then she would rise, 
saying :** Let us go and do justice to this miserable sin- 
ner.'' She was obliged to aid herself in rejecting what- 
ever she had taken, and sometimes she had so much difi&- 
culty that she vomited blood abundantly. 

This circumstance is calculated to confound the incre- 
dulous who calumniated her by saying ; she does not eat 
in public, but she deprives herself of nothing in secret. 
As soon as she had any substance in her stomach as large 
as a hazel-nut, her whole system was in a state of suffering, 
and if the visit of any person prevented her from relieving 
herself, she would faint away, and remain as though dead 
until she had vomited. We have been witness of this a 
thousand times. 

I said to her one day in private: ''My very dear 
Mother, the food that you take is so very little, and you 
retain such an insignificant portion even of that, that it 
is quite useless to you ; and you reject it with such 
extreme difficulty that it appears to me preferable to 
deprive yourself wholly." She answered me with her wonted 
prudence ; ' My beloved Son, I have several reasons for 
taking this food. First, I have asked of God that he 
would punish me in this life, for the sin of gluttony, and 
I therefore gladly accept this pain which he sends me. 
Next, I endeavour to content some persons, who appear 
to be scandalized when L do not eat; they say that the 



388 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

devil deceives me : then I exert myself to eat. There is 
also one more reason : bj these sufferings, I am brought 
back to my natural faculties, without that, my mind 
would be too much absorbed, and my body would perhaps 
sink.^' After such explanations, I had no reply. 

The Blessed Catharine had received the gift of wisdom 
in so high a degree, that all who heard her, were filled 
with admiration. She explained the Sacred Scriptures 
with such astonishing clearness, that her interpretations 
surprised the most able Doctors. Human science vanished 
before her, as snow dissolves before the raid-day sun : she 
delivered several most eloquent discourses as well as 
highly practical ones in presence of Gregory XI. and 
some cardinals, and all declared: ''Never man spoke 
like this : it is not this woman that speaks — but the Holy 
Spirit himself. '' Pope Gregory XI. often gave audience 
to Catharine, and testified a great respect for her. Three 
Prelates of very high rank, came to see him on the subject : 
"Most Holy Father'' said they to him, 'Ms this Catha- 
rine of Sienna as saintly as is pretended?'' The Pope 
replied ; " I am persuaded that she is a Saint ^^ **We 
will pay her a visit with permission from your Holiness.'' 
''I think that you will be extremely edified." In effect 
they came to our residence, at the hour of None ; it was 
in summer; they knocked, and I opened the door for 
them. '* Give Catharine notice," said they to me, *'that 
we would like to speak with her." Immediately the 
Blessed went down with her Confessor, and a few other 
monks. The Prelates bade her to be seated ; then they 
commenced speaking to her in a haughty tone, endeavor- 
ing to irritate her by words calculated to wound. Among 
other things they said : ''We come from the Sovereign 
Pontiff, and we wish to know whether the Florentines did 



LETTER OF BLESSED ETIENNE MACONI. 889 

actually send you to him, as is pretended. If they sent 
you, it must be that they have no man capable of trans- 
acting such important business ; but if they did not send 
you, we are greatly surprised that a little insignificant 
woman like you, should presume to converse with the 
Holy Father on subjects so difficult.'' Catharine, always 
calm, answered them humbly, but clearly in a manner 
that excited their surprise. When she had satisfied them 
on this subject, they proposed her some very difficult 
questions, concerning her ecstasies, her extraordinary life, 
on the passages in which the Apostle says that Satan 
transforms himself into an Angel of light, and on the 
means which she adopted for avoiding the deceits of 
Satan. The Conference lasted until night, and I was 
witness to it. Occasionally, Father Jean, her Confessor 
attempted to reply for Catharine, and although he was 
Professor of Theology, the Prelates were so skillful, they 
confounded him in a few words ; they said to him : '^ You 
should blush to advance such things in our presence : let 
her reply, she satisfies us far better than you can." 
There was among those Prelates an Archbishop from 
the Friars Minor who did not appear to accept sometimes 
at least, what Catharine said : then the other two 
opposed him : saying * ' Why interogate her any further, 
it is evident that she has explained these subjects to us 
with more clearness and precision than any Doctor could 
have done.'' At length they withdrew edified and com- 
forted, and told the Pope that they had never met a soul 
so humble and so enlightened. 

When the Pope was informed what had transpired, he 
was extremely pained, and offered excuses to Catharine, 
assuring her that it was against his will that the Prelates 
had thus acted and recommending her not to receive them, 

3l# 



390 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA 

if they presented themselves again. On the following 
day, M. Francois of Sienna, who was then physician to 
his Holiness, said to me. ''Are you acquainted witli 
the Prelates who went to see you ?^' I answered, "No!'^ 
" Wei V said he, ''know that were the knowledge and 
learning of these three men on one scale of a balance ; 
and that of the whole Roman Court on the other, the 
acquirements of these three would overbalance, and I can 
tell you that if they had not found Catharine so solid, she 
would have passed a severe trial. ^' 

Finally, who can worthily recount the interior virtues 
of the Blessed, and the works which she caused to be 
effected by her profound humility and the inalterable 
resignation ? Never did a shadow of trouble overcast 
her face; never did she utter a single word which might 
indicate anger or impatience, and this last is a mark of 
high perfection. Who shall describe the ardent charity 
which inspired her to give not merely her temporal goods, 
when she was in the house of her father, but which in- 
duced her to sacrifice herself unrelentingly for the honor 
of God and the relief of her neighbor. One day as she 
was setting out with her Confessors and her companions, 
she met a poor person who begged an alms with a certain 
degree of importunity. She said to him : "I assure you 
my dear Brother, that I have no money. " " But, ^ ' said he, 
"you could give me that mantle :'^ " That is true,'^ said 
Catharine, giving it to him. Those who accompanied 
her, had much difficulty in redeeming the mantle, because 
the poor man made her pay very dear for it, and when 
they asked her how she could resolve to walk out without 
the cloak of her Order, she replied; "7 'prefer being 
destitute of clothing to being destitute of charity. '^^ 

My health and pressing occupations oblige me to ter- 



LETTER OF BLESSED ETIENNE MACONI. 391 

minate these recitals without order ; I might have written 
many books on this rich subject, but those persons who 
desire to become better acquainted with the admirable 
virtues of that Blessed woman, her visions and her inti- 
macy with our Lord, may peruse her history written by the 
the Most Rev. Father Raymond of Capua, who was her 
Confessor for a long time, and after her death, became 
General of the Order of Preaching Friars, in which he 
did very remarkable things. Some diflBcult readers, who 
easily become weary of pious subjects, pretend that his 
book is too long. It should rather be said that her life 
is too much abridged, but whatever he wrote, was dic- 
tated by the Holy Ghost Himself. I was well acquainted 
with him, and am capable of appreciating the holiness 
of his life, the charm attendant on his virtues, the purity 
and nobility of his soul, the depth of his learning, and 
other merits with which God had enriched him. His 
devotion to the Blessed Virgin was very great, as may be 
proved by reading his admirable treatise on the Magnifi- 
cat. He is now without doubt in Heaven, and I am at 
liberty to disclose a circumstance hitherto secret. Several 
years previous to holding any relation with her whose 
life he wrote, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to our 
Saint, and promised to give her a Confessor who would 
afford her more consolation than the others whom she had 
formerly consulted : which took place. 

Here then is my testimony to the life of St. Catharine 
of Sienna ; you have earnestly requested it, and I have 
written it without research and in the simplicity of my 
heart, though oppressed with sufferings and numerous 
occupations. You asked me to be truthful in all that I 
would advance, and I affirm, in the sincerity and peace 
of my conscience, that I have added nothing to the truth. 



392 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

I know that a lying tongue slays the soul, and that God 
has no need of our falsehoods, and also that it is not allow- 
able to do evil that good may come. Be persuaded there- 
fore that I have told the truth ; I am ready to affirm it 
by oath, and in the form that you wish, for the honor of 
God, and for the edification and consolation of the neigh- 
bor. If it be necessary I will put my hand into fire ; 1 
attest it in presence of the Omniscient ; Him to whom be 
all praise and glory forever and ever. 

Two notaries wrote this declaration on the 26th of 
October, 14Y7, in the presence of numerous witnesses. 
We have appended to it the Great Seal of our Convent, 
in order to satisfy your request. 



DOM BARTHOLOMEW OF RAVENNA. 

DOM BARTHOLOMEW OF RAVENNA SENT HIS DEPOSITION ON THE TWENTY- 
SEVENTH OF OCTOBER 1411 ; IT WAS PRESENTED WITH THE OTHERS 
TO THE VICAR GENERAL OF THE BISHOP. DOM BARTHOLOMEW WAS 
THE PRIOR OF THE CHARTREUSE THAT CATHARINE WENT TO VISIT IN 
GORGON ISLE, THIRTY MILES FROM THE PORT OF LIVOURNE (2. PART. 
CHAP. IX. P. 215. J HIS TESTIMONY HAS PAKTICULAF. REFERENCE TO 
THAT VISIT. 

After having told the good that the discourse of 
Catharine produced in the souls of his Monks, Dom Bar- 
tholomew adds ; At the moment of leaving ** the 
Blessed " said to me in private: ** Father Prior, watch 
over your Flock, for I announce to you, that the enemy 
is seeking to produce scandal in the monastery." And 
to calm the trouble that these words excited, she added : 
'' But do not fear, the enemy cannot prevail." In effect, 
a few days after, the master of a boat from Pisa which 
brought wood to our Island gave a young Monk bad 
news from his Mother. That Religious asked permission 
to return to Pisa with the sloop, and as this permission 
was refused him, he became sad and the devil tempted 
him violently. One day as I was in the cloister with the 
Religious, he came to me with a countenance indicating 
great interior disorder, and imperiously demanded per- 
mission to go to Pisa. I was unwilling to yield to a 
command so unsuitable and sent him away, recommend- 
ing one of the senior Religious to follow him. He ran 
to his cell, took a sword and attempted to kill himself ; 
his companion had merely time to arrest his hand and 
call for assistance ; I arrived with all speed and endea- 

(393J 



394 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

vored to calm the poor insensate, by promising him to 
grant what he had requested. But he began at once to 
cry out : ^' ^o I do not wish to go : the devil tempts 
me and he also wished to induce me to throw myself from 
the top of the Convent." And as all the Religious were 
agitated and terrified, I ordered the cloak that the Saint 
had given me as a remembrance on quitting the Isle to 
be brought, and I placed it in the arms of the Religious 
who recovered his peace directly. I said, **MySon, 
recommend yourself to St. Catharine." He answered: 
*' She is truly praying for me ; I had been lost if she 
had not prayed." 

Being at Pisa, after Catharine's departure, Dom Bar- 
tholomew interrogated a person obsessed. **Is that 
saint in Sienna as holy as persons think ?" *^ More holy,'' 
answered the obsessed. Another Religious asked him 
whether Catharine could deliver him : '* She could do 
what you could not do, because although you are a good 
Religious you have not arrived to the same degree of 
perfection." 

When the saint quitted Gorgon Isle, the Monks accom- 
panied her to Pisa and craved her Benediction before 
withdrawing. She said to them, '' Should any accident 
occur to you on the route fear not, the Lord will be with 
you." When approaching the Island, a tempest arose, 
the helm was broken, and the barque dragged towards a 
dangerous spot, touched the ground on her side and 
filled with water. A Religious, who was desirous of 
bringing help, was drawn away by the force of the waves, 
but he was saved as well as the others, and the Barque 
was not damaged in the least. 



DEPOSITION OF BARTHOLOMEW OF RAVENNA. 395 

When the Process was terminated, they also received 
the deposition of Brother Ange Salvatti of Sienna, of 
the Order of Friars Minor, Professor of Sacred Scripture. 
This deposition, dated the 10th of March 1413, confirms 
the preceding depositions without giving any new details. 
Friar Ange speaks at length of the conversion of Friar 
Lazarini and of the exalted sanctity to which he attained 
under Catharine's direction. He describes a visit which 
he paid Etienne Maconi ; and when he was telling him 
that a Monk had seen Catharine elevated from the ground 
in ecstasy, Etienne smiled, saying that he had seen her 
not only once but many and many a time. 



BULL OF PIUS II. 

FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SAINT CATHARINE OF SIENNA, 

Pius, Bishop, Servant of the Servants of God, to all the 
Faithful of Christ, Health, and apostolical Benediction. 

The mercies of the Lord, which we have so abundantly 
experienced in our days, cannot be described by mortal 
lips ; the blessings of God surpass human language, and 
though man were capable of expressing himself by all his 
members, never could he worthily celebrate his great 
Creator; we were formed from nothing ; we sprung from 
nothingness into existence ; not only have we being as 
the stones, plants and animals, but we have been endowed 
with reason and have become capable of divine things ; 
we have been created not merely similar to the Angels, 
but also in the image of the omnipotent and invisible 
God ; we have been crowned with glory and honor, and 
have received power over all his woiks. And yet, if we 
set aside the pride of Lucifer and his followers, man 
alone, among all creatures, has proved ungrateful and 
rebellious towards God. All inanimate creation cele- 
brates the divine Goodness in its being, and never 
transgresses his commandments ; every thing irrational 
obeys the laws of nature and fulfills the end for which it 
was created. The earth opens to the plough, and re- 
ceives the seed which it returns with usury : faithful to 
the orders of man either civilized or savage, it always 
renders service to him , the stone that is taken from it 
for building, yields without resistance to the iron or the 

( 396 ; 



LETTER OF BLESSED ETIENNE MACONI. 39 T 

fire that works it ; the trees that protect the field with 
their shady foliage bear fruit and when withered, 
they afford fuel, or support houses and their roofy cover- 
ings. How useful are the plants by their leaves, roots, 
flowers, seed or the juice that is extracted from them ? 
how serviceable the rivers, lakes and seas, which are 
furrowed by the track of myriads of vessels uniting by 
commercial intercourse the very ''ends of the earth.'' 
God is praised by the inhabitants of the land, the water, 
the air, each order glorifying him by submissively obey- 
ing the instincts of its respective nature. The elements, 
the stars and the planets obey his high command ! mark, 
how the sun performs its annual circuit without exceed- 
ing the boundaries of zodiac ; the gentle moon shining 
with mild reflected light, never fails to perform her des- 
tined functions ; while the orbs that revolve throughout 
the universal sky never wander, but undeviatingly pursue 
their established course. All things material in heaven 
and on earth bless the Lord, and praise him by steadily 
fulfilling the end of their creation. All follow their 
general laws and remain within their prescribed limits 
obedient to Deity their great first Cause. 

Man alone, ungrateful, disobedient and rebellious man, 
has imitated the sin of the fallen Angel. Lucifer, who 
proud in the very height of Heaven, aimed at becoming 
like his Creator, and was precipitated into the infernal 
abyss for indulging his guilty thought : man formed from 
the dust of the Earth, on whose surface he was placed as 
lord, forgot his weakness and lowly origin, and also 
aimed at exaltation, by *' eating the forbidden fruit;" he 
determined to become, by knowing good and evil, equal 
to God, and in consequence was driven down from the 

terrestrial Paradise and condemned to countless afflictions. 

34 



898 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

Heaven's Gate was closed against him ; a subject of the 
tyrant death, the vengeance that ensued proved how 
deeply he had offended God, and how remote during the 
ages previous to the deluge were his sons from the fulfil- 
ment of God's holy will. All flesh was destroyed by the 
waters from heaven, except the virtuous Noah, and those 
who like him entered the Ark. Even children were not 
exempt from malice, they also became wicked, and fell 
into manifold crimes. The tower of Babel was an 
impious enterprise against the God of punishment, but 
the division of tongues arrested it, and from that moment 
arose wars, rapine, disorder, confusion, conflagation, 
carnage, adultery, incest, perjury, the worship of idols and 
all the ills that pride and luxury produce. Until the time 
of Abraham, the faithful observers of the divine law were 
very rare ; but that holy patriarch gave singular example 
of the sincerity of his Faith, in obeying God, even so far 
as unhesitatingly to immolate his own dear son. All the 
nations of the earth were blessed in his race. Not only 
were the prophets of the divine law to descend from him, 
but Christ the Saviour deigned to be born from him accord- 
ing to the flesh, ivhen to redeem mankind, he, the equal 
of his Father by his divine nature, determined to 
'^annihilate himself," to be clothed with our infirmities, 
to endure the most cruel torments, and accept on the 
Cross a death, not ordinary, but violent, ignominious, 
horrible and above the endurance of mere human strength. 
By dying he destroyed our death and restored us to life ; 
he conquered hell, delivered the just, and victorious over 
death and the demon, opened triumphantly the long closed 
portals of Heaven. When ascending to his Father, 
He showed us the way we are to follow, and left us in his 



BULL OF PIUS II. 391 

Gospel, in Baptism and the other Sacraments, the means 
of rising from our falls, and obtaining salvation. 

And yet, so many benefits have not captivated our 
hearts ! Our malice and our evil inclinations have not 
been destroyed ; the heart of man, while destitute of 
gratitude has not yet deserted vice. The more we have 
been favored with graces, the more we have shown our- 
selves ungrateful and inclined to evil. For how do we 
love and honor the great God ? how observe his laws ? 
Who obeys the Gospel ? Where is there any dread of 
the decisions of the Church, submission towards superiors, 
charity in regard to inferiors ? Where is equity, where are 
piety, justice, reverence and morality among men ? How 
many say in their hearts, there is no God ? Some draw 
up formulas of impious dogmas, and forge blasphemies ; 
others, slaves of voluptuousness, think merely on the 
means of gratifying their passions ; others ambition the 
riches which they do not possess ; others again thirst for 
the blood of their fellows. Innocence is rare and almost 
always in danger. What avail the bonds of family, 
what laws human, or divine ? force and fraud govern on 
all occasions and it is with good reason, that the devil is 
called the Prince of the world, for he actually governs 
the greater portion of the earth. Does not the false 
religion of Mahomet govern the East, with the great 
States of Africa ? His followers blaspheme Christ in 
the kingdom of Granada, in Spain, and in many of the 
provinces of Greece. The Jewish Nation scattered 
throughout the wide world, is the enemy of the Gospel 
and of the laws of Christianity. Idolaters abound in 
the East as in the North, Christendom is reduced to a 
corner of Europe ; for although we are assured that there 
are many christians spread throughout Asia and Lybia, 



400 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

yet their faith is not sincere, they live remote from the 
Holy See and in the midst of infidels and heretics ; they 
commit evil deeds, and are infected with errors. And 
are not European Christians merely nominal ? The 
religion of a vast number is uncertain and false ; their 
conduct is the proof. How many of them perform works 
worthy of the Christian? ''By their fruits ye shall 
know them,^^ said the Saviour. (St. Matt. vii. 16.) If 
we live as Christ ordains, we are genuine Christians. 
(St. John. iii. 10.) The Apostle Saint John says, *'men 
are the children of him ichose icorks they perform. ^^ 
(St. Jno. viii. 44.) If we keep the commandments 
of God, we are the sons of God ; if we perform the works 
of the devil, we belong to him, for the Lord has said of 
such : *' you have the devil for your father ;^^ — terrible, 
but just saying. Every one is the son and subject 
of him whose commandments he keeps. How many 
are there among Christians that do not swerve from the 
divine law, and how numerous are they who follow the 
suggestions of Satan ? Let each one interrogate his 
conscience and repass his life in spirit, and he will dis- 
cern how remote he is from accomplishing the obliga- 
tions of a real Christian. Ah ! how great and incom- 
parable are the bounty and mercy of God which bears 
with us, and does not cut us off from life, because he 
expects our conversion and return to him, that he may 
pardon our heavy guilt. 

But in every age, there have been men agreeable to 
God by their sanctity. Though clothed with our 
common mortality, they have overcome the flesh and have 
led a heavenly life on earth. By their merits and inter- 
cession the world is preserved, the destroying fire which 
menances it is arrested, God's anger and vengeance 



BULL OF PIUS TI. 401 

kindled against it are suspended. We doubt not that at 
this very hour, there are some souls who appease God, 
and render the King of heaven propitious and favorable. 
Among those who have calmed Almighty God and 
merited his clemency, the city of Sienna, one of the 
glories of Tuscany, reckoned Bernardin. Descended 
from a noble family, he renounced the world in his youth 
and entered the Order of St. Francis. He found there 
Religious who lived very far from their Rule and the 
examples of their holy Father ; he rebuked them with 
energy, and as he was unable to bring them all back into 
the right path, he separated those who desired to practice 
the Rule in its primitive fervor, and with them, he visited 
the existing monasteries, constructed new ones and in- 
troduced into them the most sage reformation. He ran 
over Italy, destroying vice and inciting to virtue. He 
was admired for his abstinence, his angelical purity, his 
winning gravity the charms of his discourse, and the 
depth of his teachings ; and being a sincere lover of 
poverty, and an enemy of riches and pleasures, the liveliest 
joy ever shone on his countenance, and the most profound 
peace reigned within his soul. Innocence rendered 
him happy and no stain sullied or troubled his conscience. 
He abolished a great many scandals in Italy and per- 
formed many miracles, so that during his life-time he 
was regarded as a Saint, was venerated everywhere, 
and the people collected in crowds to pay him honor. 
He terminated his career at Aquilea, and in the very 
year of the jubilee in which the whole Christian world 
visits Rome to be purified from defects, Nicholas Y. our 
predecessor, placed him in the number of the Holy Con- 
fessors of Christ. 

Before Bernardin, our Fathers had seen in the same 



402 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

city of Sienna, the virgin Catharine, not less exalted in 
merit and not less agreeable to God. Her prayers 
offered to the divine Majesty have been, are still, and 
always will be useful to mankind ; for if the crimes of 
the wicked and their blasphemies draw down upon us the 
wrath of God, the works and supplications of the Saints 
preserve us from them. Catharine led an angelic life on 
earth ; she has been in heaven twenty-four years ; unnum- 
bered miracles have manifested her glory and nevertheless 
the Church militant has not yet inscribed her among the 
faithful Virgins of Christ. The Roman Pontiffs, our 
predecessors have not decreed it. Urban YI. and after him 
Innocent VII. and Gregory XII., who had a particular 
knowledge of her deserts, designed rendering her this 
honor, but they were prevented by schism, troubles and 
the wars which agitated their pontificates. God without 
doubt permitted it, because in the midst of those tempests, 
what was proclaimed in one obedience would have been 
despised in the other. This affair was consequently de- 
ferred until our time, and the Canonization of that 
Virgin, our countrywoman, has been reserved to us. The 
sanctity of the virgin of Sienna shall be proclaimed by a 
native of Sienna, occupying the throne of Peter ; and 
we admit that in this we experience a sensible consola- 
tion. Who does not like, when he may do so with 
justice, to celebrate his own country, his own city, or his 
own family ? We take pleasure in lauding the illustrious 
of all nations, but with how much greater eagerness do 
we sound the trumpet of fame when there is question 
of our fellow citizens ! We should have contemplated 
with joy, the sublime virtues, the genius, the greatness 
of soul, the all-powerful strength and fortitude of the 
blessed Catharine : but we admire them more because 



BULL OP PIUS n. 403 

she like ourselves first saw the light in the city of Sienna. 
We anticipate more favors through her intercession and 
in her merits than if she had been born in Africa, or in 
the Indies. Why should not the bonds that link us to 
the Saints, procure us some advantage ? 

However this consideration shall never prompt us to 
deviate from truth. The love of family or of country 
does not dispense with the proofs, informations and for- 
malities customary on such occasions, and notwithstand- 
ing our pleasure at the circumstance that Catharine is a 
native of Sienna, we have neglected nothing. Petitions 
have been addressed to us not only from Sienna, but 
from many other lands. Our dear Son in the Lord, 
Frederic, Emperor of the Romans, and our own beloved 
Son, Paschal, Doge of Venice, have entreated us to permit 
the homage of this virgin in their respective States, be- 
cause the people entertain a great devotion to her, and 
re kite numerous vvondurs concerning her. When we our- 
selves were repairing to Mantua, we sojourned a long 
time at Sienna and there, in public Consistory her virtues 
and her miracles were laid before us, and we were suppli- 
cated to decree to her the honors of the Saints of Jesus 
Christ. We did not grant it immediately, but in confor- 
mity with ancient usage, we designated three of our 
Brethren, Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, a 
Bishop, a Priest and a Deacon, to examine regularly 
the life, and actions of Catharine, with the miracles that 
she performed during her life and after her death, 
and to pursue the whole process necessary to her Canon- 
ization and then lay before us a faithful narration in 
secret Consistory. More than a year after, when we 
came back from Mantua to Rome, the commissaries 
whom We had designated after having discussed the 



404 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

business, studied the ancient procedures made at Venice 
and elsewhere, examined the witnesses anew, and noting 
every particular with great care, presented an authentic 
relation of them to the Cardinals and to Us alone. They 
were afterwards repeated by an Advocate, in public 
Consistory. Finally, in the presence of all the Bishops 
whom we had convoked at the Court of Rome, and the 
Cardinals who assist us, the appointed Commissaries, by 
the organ of our venerable Brother, William, Bishop of 
Porto, (a Frenchman by birth,) who presided over them, 
exposed anew all that they had learned and all that 
appeared to them to be authentic. We have summed 
up, from their very extensive and well-made depositions 
the following facts, all perfectly valid, clearly proved and 
certified. 

Catharine was born in Sienna of persons in a middling 
condition. She consecrated herself to God at an age 
w^hen she could scarcely have had any knowledge of him. 
At six years of age, so as to serve him better, she sought 
solitude and went with the intention of concealing herself 
in a wild cavern, but she did not remain there, for the 
Holy Spirit brought her home to her parents. At seven 
years of age, she consecrated her Virginity to our Lord 
w^ho appeared to her on his throne of Majesty, and she 
saw the secrets of the heavenly court, which human tongue 
can never utter. She renounced from that moment all 
worldly pleasures, gave herself entirely to meditation and 
afflicted her delicate frame with vigils, fasts and disci- 
plines. Her companions attracted by her discourse and 
example, imitated her conduct. When she was of 
suitable age to select a state of life, she refused to marry, 
though urged by her parents, but cut off her hair, and 
despised the consequent injuries and persecutions. Many 



BULL OP PIUS II. - 405 

petitions and endeavors were requisite before she could 
obtain the habit of St. Dominic, worn by the Sisters of 
Penance. She fulfilled the office of servant in the house 
of her parents and desired nothing so much as to appear 
little and contemptible in the eyes of all. With her 
father's permission she gave abundant alms : she carefully 
nursed the sick, and surmounted the temptations of Satan 
and the continual combats of hell with the buckler of 
patience and the arms of faith ; she comforted, by all 
possible methods, prisoners and the oppressed. She was 
never heard to utter a word that was not pious and holy ; 
all her conversations had for their objects morality, 
religion, piety, contempt of the world, love of God and 
of the neighbor, with the desire of the better country. 
No one approached her, without leaving her with their 
minds and hearts more informed and better. Her know- 
ledge came down to her from Heaven ; hence she could 
teach without having had masters. When Professors of 
the Sacred Writings, and illustrious Bishops, proposed to 
her the most difficult questions in Theology, she answered 
them with so much wisdom and satisfied them so fully 
that they became gentle as lambs, after having shown 
themselves to her at first as menacing wolves and lions. 
Some of them, captivated by the all divine wisdom of 
that youthful maiden, distributed their possessions to the 
poor of Jesus Christ, aad embraced the Cross by leading 
a perfect life. 

Catharine's abstinence was surprising, and her auster- 
ity prodigious. She rejected the use of wine, of meat, 
and every kind of seasoning. She finished by depriving 
herself of vegetables, and took no other bread, than that 
heavenly Bread with which the true Christian is nourished 
at the Sacrament of the Altar. It sometimes happened 



406 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

that she fasted from Ash-Wednesday till the Ascension, 
having taken no other food than the Blessed Eucharist. 
lU:ring eight years, she sustained life with a little juice 
of herbs which she could not even retain on her stomach; 
she went to her repasts as to a punishment, but she flew 
on the wings of love to the Holy Communion, receiving 
it almost daily, as a celestial banquet. 

She wore a hair-cloth under her garments ; and used 
neither matress nor pillow. Her bed was composed of 
boards, and on them she took but a few moments of re- 
pose. She rarely slept more than two hours during the 
day or night ; the remainder of the time was consecrated 
to pious vigils, prayer, and to works of mercy ; she tore 
her body with rude disciplines ; she suffered a constant 
and violent head-ache, and was tried by fever and by va- 
rious other maladies. She was often obliged to contend 
against the demons, who persecuted her in every way ; 
she said with the Apostle : cum infirmory tune potens 
sum. (11. Corinth, xii. 10.) In all her trials, she never 
became dejected and never neglected her ordinary works 
of charity. She assisted the unfortunate and the oppressed, 
converted sinners, and attracted them to penance by the 
mildness of her discourse ; she gave counsel with joy, and 
indicated to each one what he should do and what he 
should avoid ; she calmed disputants, appeased a great 
number of violent hatreds and terminated many bloody 
enmities ; to reconcile the Florentines and the Church, 
she did not hesitate to pass the Appenines and the Alps, 
to be near to Gregory XI., our predecessor, at Avignon, 
and she told him of the Yow that he had taken of return- 
ing to Rome ; that vow having been taken secretly, God 
alone could have made her acquainted with it. 

She was also endowed with the spirit of prophecy, 



BULL OF PIUS n. 40T 

announcing future events, and revealing the most hidden 
things ; she was ravished in ecstacy, and remained sus- 
pended in air. When she enjoyed these heavenly con- 
templations, she became so absorbed that she was insen- 
sible to blows and wounds ; and she fell into this state, 
almost always after receiving holy Communion. 

Catharine's name was held in great veneration among 
the people ; from every side they brought the sick and 
those possessed by the devil, and many were healed. 
She commanded sickness and fever iu the name of Jesus 
Christ, and drove Satan from the obsessed. In conse- 
quence, two Roman Pontiffs, Gregory XI. and Urban 
Yl., esteemed her so highly that they charged her with 
several negotiations, and granted her a great number of 
spiritual favors. She terminated her career at the age 
of thirty-three, and slept at Rome, in the peace of God. 
Her happiness and her triumph in Heaven were revealed 
by marvelous visions to persons who had been particularly 
attached to her, especially her Confessor, Raymond of 
Capua, Doctor in Theology, and General of the Order 
of Preaching Friars. He was at Genes, the night in 
which Catharine died, and whilst at the Matin hour, he 
was praying before an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 
she appeared to him all resplendent with light, and 
addressed him with consoling words. Her body, exposed 
a certain time, was buried at Rome, in the Church of 
the Miuerve, amid the testimonies of respect and devo- 
tion of an enthusiastic multitude. Many sick persons, 
by touching her, obtained their cure from God ; others 
recovered their health by means of the objects which had 
been in contact with her precious remains. When Cath- 
arine had ascended to heaven, she listened graciously to 
the prayers that were addressed to her, and she caused 



408 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

them to be heard by her Spouse and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. Many, on hearing of her powerful influence in 
heaven, had recourse to her intercession, and experienced 
its salutatory effects. Therefore at Venice, where St. 
Catharine had never been, and in other places, great 
honors were tendered to her. 

When our Yenerable Brother, the Bishop of Porto, 
had exposed those things and many others, in the assem- 
bly of Cardinals and Prelates, and we had affirmed that 
they were certain and evident, the Cardinals and Prelates 
present, were invited to give their decision. All unani- 
mously declared the holy virgin worthy of Heave a and 
of the honors of earthy and there was not a person pre- 
sent who did not give his opinion that the Canonization 
should be proceeded with directly. 

Having attentively listened to all these things, we com- 
manded that in the Basilica of the Prince of the Apos- 
tles, a lofty and decorated tribune should be erected, from 
which to-day, in presence of the people and the clergy, 
after having pronounced a discourse on the life and mira- 
cles of Catharine, after having celebrated Mass and ful- 
filled all the accustomed ceremonies, we would proceed in 
these terms to the canonization of the *^ Blessed " Cath- 
arine : ''To the honor of the omnipotent and eternal 
God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, for the exaltation 
of the Catholic Faith, and the extension of the Christian 
Religion, and in virtue of the authority of Jesus 
Christ, of the Blessed Apostles St. Peter and St. 
Paul, and of that which has been conferred on us, we 
declare, on the opinion of our Brethren, that Catharine 
of Sienna, virgin of illustrious and ineffaceable memory, 
whose body reposes at Rome in the Church of the 
Preachiug Friars, called la Minerve, has been already 



BULL OF PIUS II. 409 

received and crowned with glory in the heavenly Jerusa- 
lem, amid the choirs of Virgins, in the rank which her 
virtue merited, aided by divine grace. We determine 
and decree that she be honored as a Saint, in public and 
private, and we ordain that her name be inscribed in the 
catalogue of the Virgins who are venerated by the Ro- 
man Church ; we wish that her festival be celebrated 
annually by the whole Church, on the first Sunday of 
May, and that the honors be paid to her which it is cus- 
tomary to render to other Virgins. To all such as may 
visit her tomb, on the day of her feast, we grant in per- 
petuity, an Indulgence of seven years and seven times 
forty days, on conforming to the obligations and usages 
of the Church. 

*' Let no one allow himself to change anything in this 
declaration, nor in whatever it contains, relates, ordains 
and settles ; let no one attack it with temerity ; should 
any one thus render himself guilty, let him know that he 
exposes himself to the indignation of Almighty God, and 
of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. 

*' Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, in the year of the 
Incarnation, 1641, the 19th of June, and the third year 
of our Pontificate.'^ 



A Brief of Urban VIII., dated the I6th of February, 
1630, changed the day of St. Catharines feast : it is now 
fixed on the 30th April : it was not put on the 29th, 
which is the anniversary of her death, because the 
Church celebrates the Feast of St. Peter, Martyr, on that 
day. 

35 



RECOLLECTIONS 

OP 

'i CattiartnB in Stalq< 



In one of the most painful moments of my life, I 
implored the intercession of St. Catharine, and promised 
to endeavor to spread her fame in France, if God would 
deliver me from the malady which affected me mentally 
and corporeally. I was heard immediately and this book 
is the ex-voto of my gratitude. Before giving it to the 
public, I desired to present it personally at the tomb of 
our dear Saint ; the Reader will kindly accompany me 
in this pious pilgrimage, and visit with me the localities 
consecrated by her memory. 

It was in Rome that St. Catharine terminated her life, 
offering herself a victim for the Church. When the 
Sovereign Pontiff, Urban VI. implored her counsels, 
amid the tempest of the rising Schism, she resided, (as it 
is said in this biography III part. chap. 2.) between the 
Minerva and the Campo di Fiore. The house which she 
occupied with her disciples in now found Yia Santa 
Chsra No. 14 opposite the little church which has given 
a name to the street. Her companions continued living 
there, after her death, under the direction of Alessia 

( 410 ; 



RECOLLECTIONS IN ITALY. 411 

whom she had given them for their Superior, and that 
little community was long perpetrated. The Blessed 
Lucia de Narni, sojourned in that Convent, when she 
was summoned to Rome, in 1502, under Alexander VI. 
to certify to the reality of her stigmata. The room in 
which St. Catharine died is on the ground floor ; it has 
been converted into a chapel, but the ceiling alone is of 
her time ; the walls have been transported to the Minerva 
and reconstructed behind the Altar of the Sacristy, 
Such changes are to be regretted as it is especially to 
form that recollections are attached. 

The obsequies of St. Catharine were celebrated in the 
Church of the Minerva in St. Dominic's Chapel, and 
her monument is at the right of the grand Altar, in the 
Chapel of the Rosary; the Blessed Virgin deigned to 
shelter her beneath the shadow of her sanctuary, that her 
relics might be gladdened by that angelical salutation she 
so loved to repeat. 

Etienne Maconi, at the moment of quitting Rome, to 
go and assume the habit of the Carthusians, in obedience 
to her command, desired to possess a relic of his venerated 
Mother ; he obtained from the other disciples of St. 
Catharine leave to open her coffin, and he took one of 
her teeth, which he carried away with him as a precious 
treasure. The pious mutilation of her body took place 
at the time of its translation by Blessed Raymond of 
Capua. The head was borne to Sienna, and considerable 
portions of her members went to enrich the Convents and 
churches in which her memory is honored, as we perceive 
in the process of Venice. In 1486, St. Antonius made a 
new opening in the tomb, and it is from this period 
without doubt that dates the monument which we discover 
beneath the Altar of the Chapel of the Rosary. St. Cath- 



412 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

arine is there represented with her religious drapery, 
reposing in the sweet slumber which precedes the glorious 
resurrection. 

In Rome two Convents of Dominican Nuns, honor the 
memory of St. Catharine. The Religious that St. Dom- 
inic established at St. Sixtus, were forced, on account of 
the fever which ravaged that portion of the city, to 
abandon the places consecrated by such Important recol- 
lections, they therefore settled on the Quirinal. The 
handsome Convent of St Dominic and of St. Sixtus, is in 
possession of St. Catharine's left hand, and that precious 
relic is extremely well preserved. The dried up flesh is 
of a brown hue, its fingers very small and slightly bent. 
In its centre the cicatrice of the stigmata with which our 
Lord honored his Spouse, are distinctly perceptible. The 
right hand is divided ; the Chartreuse of Pontiniano, near 
Florence have the finger which received the ring denoting 
her heavenly espousals, and that also restored sight to 
Blessed Etienne Maconi miraculously. The left foot is 
at Venice, the trace of the stigmata are visible in it ; 
Gregory Lombardelli affirms, that it was authentically 
recognized in 1591. 

Besides the Convent of St. Dominic, rises that of St. 
Catharine, with its devotional church and old tower of 
the middle ages. They who dwell in it claim for ances- 
tors, the companions that our Saint brought from Sienna 
to Rome, and who continued living in community until 
her death. Hence they have a tender and invincible 
confidence in their patroness. During the terrors of the 
siege of Rome, they secured themselves against danger, 
by additional ornaments placed on her Altar, and 
decorating her statue. A quite particular circumstance 
obtained for me leave of entrance into this ''enclosed 



RECOLLECTIONS IN ITALY. 413 

garden " of the Church, where so many virtues bloom 
for heaven. I knelt in an interior Chapel, where the 
Nuns showed me a crucifix said to have belonged to St. 
Catharine, and yet having traces of her devout embraces. 
The convent possesses an entire shoulder-blade of the Saint, 
one of her sandals, and a few bricks of the apartment in 
which she departed this life. 

During my sojourn in Rome, the thought of Catharine 
incessantly accompanied me, and when visiting those 
sanctuaries in which ages have accumulated so many me- 
mentos, I implored her to warm my heart with a spark 
of that fire which consumed hers, when she made those 
pious pilgrimages with her disciples. I delighted in 
tracing out the paths she took, and following above all 
the way which leads from her humble abode, to the tomb 
of the Apostles : it was through those streets which in 
Rome, never change, that she went to pray for the church 
and consolidate on the immoveable Rock, the Sovereign 
Pontiff, Urban VI. In the last days of her martyrdom, 
she daily traversed this way, as did our Lord the road to 
Calvary ; but the hour of sacrifice eluded her desires, and 
it was necessary to carry her back to her house in a dying 
condition. 

How many times did she climb the silent declivity of 
the Aventine, and kneel in the Basilica of St. Sabinus, so 
dear to the Order of Preaching Friars. Her virginal 
lips have pressed that stone on which St. Dominic 
extended himself during the solitude of night, to pour 
forth in God's presence his tears and supplications. She 
saluted with pious affection, those recollected halls in 
which the holy Founder assembled his pacific conquests : 
she contemplated in the vigor of its prime, the blessed 
tree that his hands planted, and her prophetic eye 

36* 



414 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

undoubtedly perceived in the future, the new generations 
which were to renovate his work, like vigorous shoots 
emerging from an aged trunk, with the very year that 
was to witness the re- establishment of the Dominicans in 
France. May Heaven continue to multiply its branches 
and its fruit ! 

St. Catharine also visited frequently the Convent of St. 
Sixtus on the Appian Way. It was there that St. 
Dominic established his Order in Rome ; there he assem- 
bled his nuns whom he refreshed with his discourse and 
with a miraculous wine ; there too was divine power 
manifested in him, and vanquished death thrice restored 
to him its victims. At the period in which Catharine 
lived, the family of St. Sixtus was flourishing, and a proof 
that our Saint had gladdened it with her presence and 
illuminated it by her virtues, is that, a short time after 
her death, and considerable before her canonization, the 
Nuns caused her portrait to be painted in the choir of 
their church, and it may yet be seen behind more recent 
constructions. The Convent of St. Sixtus has long been 
a solitude, seldom visited by the piety of the faithful ; let 
us hope that this sanctuary so rich in mementoes, will 
share in the blessings which God pours with new effusion 
on the Order of St. Dominic and that the Religious life 
may ere long flourish in its now deserted Cloisters. 

When going from Rome to Sienna, as one descends 
the rough upturned declivities of the Radicofani, the 
lines gradually soften on the horizon ; plantations ot 
Olive-trees in graceful rows adorn the hill-sides, the 
valleys present a high state of cultivation, and broad 
streamlets murmur beneath delicious shadowy foliage. 
Chateaux of the middle ages, with farm-houses of 
elegant architecture animate the landscaoe and as one 



RECOLLECTIONS IN ITALY. 415 

advances on this road festooned by its luxuriant vines, 
nature appears milder and more gay : one would fancy 
he heard the distant hum of a concert, whose dulcet 
accords approached near and more near. 

Sienna is a poetic city in which every thing harmonizes 
with the remembrance of St. Catharine ; its ramparts 
and its monuments are contemporaries which speak of 
her, and the imagination easily retraces in them all the 
scenes of her blessed life. Its enclosure, devastated by 
the Pest, of which she was the consoling Angel, presents 
not the agitation of our modern cities. Instead of that 
febrile movement of luxury and of commerce, we meet 
therein a living reigning peace, that one would never, 
never quit. The Italian language is more melodious 
there than elsewhere, and the population, quite distinct 
from that of Genes and of Florence, offers types of vir- 
ginal beauty. One easily comprehends that here human 
genius must expand its blossoms beneath a beautiful and 
cheerful sky, and that human art must produce its almost 
breathing wonders. But I hastily traversed, its undulat- 
ing streets its public squares, its Churches, and its 
palaces of rich and chivalrous architecture ; my heart 
craved other delights : could the magnificent features of 
a city arrest the attention of a Son, who seeks the house 
of his Mother ? 

On descending from the Cathedral, at the turn of a 
little street, I suddenly found myself in presence of the 
localities consecrated by the life of St. Catharine. An 
inscription and a painting nearly effaced informed me 
that I was on the very spot in which she beheld her first 
vision. Opposite to me on the other side of the valley, 
where Jaeomo's workmen washed their various colored 
wool, was delineated that beautiful church of St. Domi- 



416 LIFE OP ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

nic which served as a pedestal to the throne of our Lord, 
when he appeared to her assisted by SS. Peter and Paul 
and St. John the Evangelist. I pursued the same road 
that Catharine and her little brother Etienne (Stephen) 
followed on that day, and arrived at length at the much 
desired residence. 

The abode of the Blessed Catharine is situated at the 
entrance of the valley, on the left hand, ascending POca 
street. The piety of her fellow-citizens has filled it with 
chapels. On the ground-floor, was the workshop of 
Jacomo, the shop and the back-shop in which is found 
the cellar where God rendered to her family a hundred- 
fold of good wine that she distributed to the poor. By 
the stair-way which the holy child mounted, reciting the 
angelical salutation at every step, we arrive at an apart- 
ment, where, during her life-time Mass was celebrated : 
this was a privilege that she had obtained from the 
Sovereign Pontiff, at the period of her journey to Avig- 
non. The back of the Altar is against the wall towards the 
street ; there, are to be seen, enclosed in Reliquaries, 
the extremity of the cane that supported her, when not- 
withstanding her sufferings, she went whither the love of 
God and of her neighbor called her, the little lantern which 
enlightened her in her charitable vigils, a small flagon of 
scent that friendship perchance would fain oblige her to 
wear during the Plague, but of which without doubt she 
used very little, she, who had so courageously overcome 
nature, in the service of the sick. Among the garments 
that had belonged to her, we remarked a rich silk stuff 
which served a long time to envelope her head, brought 
from Rome to Sienna by the Blessed Raymond. 

Opposite the Altar at the right hand of the entrance 
is found the spot richest in her memory ; it is in that 



RECOLLECTIONS IN ITALY. 411 

little cell that God was pleased to adorn Catharine with 
so many virtues ; those walls have witnessed her prayers, 
her penances, and her ecstasies ; there, our Lord, the 
Blessed Virgin, and the Saints, came and conversed with 
her ; in that place were celebrated her glorious nuptials, 
and she enjoyed the familiar embraces of her Spouse ; 
there her heart broken with love, and her soul inebriated 
with celestial lights, was again united to her body in 
order to commence the greater miracle of her public life. 
! sanctuary, in which the presence of Catharine is 
sensible, how shall I describe thy mysterious peace and 
thy delicious inspirations ? 

The cell of Catharine, which is only five meters long 
by three in width, was enlightened by a little window, at 
the bottoni of which there still exists some remnant of 
mason-work.* There, it is said, her head rested during 
sleep ; but her bed which was of planks, must have been 
placed in the bottom against the wall, and the Blessed 
Raymond says positively, that she had a piece of wood 
for a pillow. (1 p. chap. 9.) Those bricks are without 
doubt, the ruins of the steps which served her to go up to 
the window. In the corner is the door of a small closet 
which opened into her room. Happily marble has not 
new covered the walls of this sanctuary ; the same soil is 
there which was pressed by her feet, and the lips of the 
pilgrim may venerate its dust. 

In the upper part of the house were the rooms occupied 
by her family, among others that of her brother Etienne, 



* Morantem in quadam cellula parva, infra domum paternam, 
engus ostium et fenestra semper clausa erant, sed coram 
imagines Christi, beatse Marise et aliorum Sanctorum quae ibi 
depictse erant, in cessanter, die noctuque lampas ardebat. (Dom 
Martene, p. 1312. ) 



418 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

in which her father saw a white dove reposing on her head. 
Behind the Altar of a chapel is shown the chimney in 
which the Blessed prepared the repasts of her parents, at 
the time she suffered their persecutions. Opposite the 
house, on the other side of the narrow street on which St. 
Catharine's window opened, was a garden where a church 
is built, which serves for the meetings of the confraternity 
of Fontebrands. Above the Altar, the Crucifix is pre- 
served before which St. Catharine received the stigmata, 
in the church of St. Christina at Pisa. On all the walls 
of these sanctuaries are painted and sculptured different 
circumstances of the Life of St. Catharine, but the eye 
hardly rests upon them, — the /lear^has apparitions which 
are more real than are all these images ! 

Catharine could descry from the top of her Father's 
house, the Palace of her Spouse, the church of St. Domi- 
nic, and tradition asserts that she passed hours there in 
holy contemplation. That monument which bespeaks 
majestic simplicity, stands near the fortified enclosure on 
one of the most elevated points of the village. At the 
entrance of its vast enclosure, is the Chapel where the 
Sisters of the Third Order of St. Dominic assembled. 
The pavement is ornamented with inscriptions commem- 
orative of the miraculous facts which transpired in that 
sanctuary. Here, Christ changed the Heart of Cathar- 
ine — there, he recited the psalms with her — in that -spot 
Catharine gave her silver Cross to the Saviour, — farther 
on, she disrobed herself to bestow on him a garment* 
On the Altar is placed the portrait of the Blessed, drawn 



* Cat. cor mdtat xpvs— cata. crvcem erogat xpo— cata. veste 

INDVIT XPVM EX LATERIBVS QVO HIC PATENTI CVM CHRISTO. DIVINA 

ALTERNATIM PERSOLVENDO VNA CREBERRIME SPATIABANTVR. 



RECOLLECTIONS IN ITALY. 419 

during her life-time by her disciple, Andrew Vanni. 
Catharine is represented standing, holding a lily in her left 
hand, and touching a young maiden who is kneeling before 
her with her right. 

In the Church on the right side, is the Chapel of St. 
Catharine ; it is adorned with pictures, representing some 
circumstances in her life : there are also the portraits of 
Father Thomas de Fonte and of Blessed Kaymond of 
Capua, who were her Confessors and biographers. On 
the Altar, in the wall that divides the Church from the 
Sacristy, is placed the relic that Sienna rightly considers, 
her most precious treasure, the head of St. Catharine 
is enclosed in a reliquary, the keys of which are in the 
hands of the Gonfalonnier of the city, and of the Prior 
of the Convent. It is exposed only twice annually, on St. 
Catharine's festival, and on the Wednesday of Septu- 
agesima, in remembrance of her mystical marriage with 
our Lord. 

The Keligious costume with which the bust of the Saint 
is clothed, merely permits a view of her countenance, 
which beams with a mysterious mnjesty. It is impossible 
to depict the emotions one experiences in presence of 
that august Relic ; the obscurities of death vanish, and 
the heart contemplates with love, that brow ever calm 
and joyous, those eyes that ecstacy enlightened, those 
features that charity animated, those lips whence escaped, 
as from an inexhaustible fountain, words endued with 
power for converting souls. O sacred remains which 
Earth preserves for Eternity, consecrated head, which the 
Divinity deigned to use as a sanctuary, hrow, that, 
heavenly glory shall wreathe on the day of the Resurec- 
tiou, lovely, benignant, countenance which shall gladden 
the heavenly Jerusalem, Catharine, the Saviour shall 



420 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

take complacency in his Spouse, and will crown you with 
that precious diadem he promised, when you chose his 
crown of Thorns on Earth. Now you conceal from us 
your splendor, you only exhibit yourself to our view, in 
the infirmity of our nature, so that the traces of your 
sufferings and your death may teach us the true path 
to happiness and glory. 

The Church of St. Dominic is in possession of another 
relic of St. Catharine : at the base of the silver bust that 
is borne through the city on her festival, is, I believe, the 
thumb of the right hand. Another Reliquary contains 
two disciplines which belonged to her, one of iron, the 
other of cords. The Dominican Convent San Spirito has 
a considerable portion of a hair-shirt that was worn by 
Catharine. 

One of the finest establishments of Sienna, the hospital 
of the Scala, also preserves the recollection of St. Catha- 
rine ; it was there she exercised charity towards the sick, 
there she combated against nature, by embracing infected 
wounds and drinking the water which had been employed 
in washing an ulcer ; there she supported the calumnies 
of Andrea, and also appeared to that patient enveloped 
in resplendent light. In the inferior part of the hospital 
is shown an obscure shed, whither she retired to take a 
few brief moments of repose. Above the stone on which 
she extended herself, may be read the following inscrip- 
tion : Here reposed the Spouse of Jesus Christy the 
seraphic mother^ St. Catharine of Sienna, Praise he 
to God."^ This place is entrusted to the guard of the 
Confraternity Brothers for the night, who assemble in 
pious vigils at the season of her festival. 

* Ovi Giaceva la Sposa di Giesu-Christo, la Seraficamadr© Santa 
Caterina da Siena. — Lavs Deo 



RECOLLECTIONS IN ITALY. 421 

Pisa had not forgotton the sojonrn of Catharine. On 
the right shore of the Arno, is the little Church of St. 
Catharine, in which she received the stigmata. Near a 
side Altar a little column indicates the place where she 
sunk down insensible under the divine impression, on it is 
seen this inscription. The Lord here marked his 
servant Catharine^ with the signs of our Redemption. * 

On the two side Altars, these two inscription are found. 

Catharine, who pierced your hands, who marked your 
feet, with the bloody impress of the Cross ? 

Christ my beloved, shared with me his honors, and 
deigned to adorn me with his wounds. 

The wounds of Christ are bloody ; why Catharine are 
yours radiant ? 

The wounds of Christ are red, they were made by the 
enemy in expiation of our faults ; mine are shining, 
because they were the gift of love, f 

On the Altar is the copy of the crucifix before which 
St. Cathariue received the Stigmata ; the original was a 
pledge of peace between the Republics of Pisa and 
Sienna. Near St. Christina at No. 8 of the Street that 
passes near the Church, is found the house of Buonconti in 
which St. Catharine received hospitality. There is also 



* Signavit Dominus servam suam Catharinam hie signi^ 
redemptionis nostrse. 

t Haec Catharina tuis manibus quis Stigmata fixit ? 

Quis pedibus durse sigiia crueiita Crucis ? 
Me mens hie Christus proprio signavit honore 

Ornavitque siiis quam bene vnlneribiis. 
Viilnei*fe cum rubeant Christi foedata cruore. 

Vulnera sic rutilant qui, Catharina tua? 
Ilia rubent merito cedens inflixerat hostis 

Istaque pellueent, aurea pinxit amor. 
Sacra accepit Stigmata hoc in Sacello. A. d. mccclxxv, Mortem 

Obiit A. D. MCCCLXXX. 

36 



422 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA 

shown the room that she occupied and the Madonna before 
which it is said that she prayed, but the basso relievo is 
less ancient. 

Hearts have preserved as faithfully as monuments, the 
souvenir of St. Catharine. Her devotion is widely spread 
throughout Italy. A great number of convents and of 
churches are erected under her invocation, and the festivals 
that are mentioned in the Process of Venice are perpetu- 
ated to our own day ; the people always have for her 
prayers, canticles and choicest flowers. 

At Sienna hers is a national festival : it is celebrated 
on the 29th of April, but the public ceremony does not 
take place until the following Sunday. Then the house 
on Oca Street is adorned with all its riches, the Altars 
are decorated with their gayest ornaments ; Catharine's 
little cell is glittering with garlands and lights ; em- 
blems and verses that recal her life, speak from the walls, 
as, *' Because she preferred the crown of thorns to those 
of kings, she had merited a heavenly diadem." — '* God 
filled with precious jewels the garment which she gave to 
the poor." — Her thoughts were pure as lilies. ''Eternal 
Wisdom was her book." — '' She attained peace by suffer- 
ing.'^ — '' On the cross she found the object of her desires, 
and her heart was transformed into God's. " 

The Confraternity of Fonte-B.and a do the honors of the 
devout sanctuary ; it oilers to the poor and to the rich, 
little loaves of Blessed Bread in remembrance of those 
that Catharine formerly multiplied and distributed. The 
neighboring streets are stre wn with foliage, and dressed 
with Flags and pendants ; all the windows are adorned 
with rich suits of hangings. At nine o'clock, the proces- 
sion moves from the Church of St. Dominic. The clergy 
and the two confraternities of Fonte-Branda, and Friurs 



RECOLLECTIONS IN ITALY. 423 

of the Night, accompany the silver statue of St. Catha- 
rine, — it passes in triumph through the city, and the bells 
of every parish hail its passage. On the public square, 
the authorities, the Gonfalonnier, and the magistracy, 
come forth from the palace and join the cortege. They 
visit the house of the Blessed ; then ascend to the Church 
of St. Dominic, where a young nobleman of the college 
of the Tholomei pronounces the eulogium of the illustrious 
countrywoman. That discourse is sometimes the d^but 
of great talent ; it is always a useful and beautiful 
remembrance for the remainder of life. 

The head of St. Catharine is exposed from morning 
until evening, and the multitude never discontinue pouring 
out before her, tender and fervent prayers. When night 
comes on, the entire hill of Fonte-Branda is illuminated, 
the Rosary is recited at the feet of the Madonna, and 
hymns are sung in honor of the Saint ; the crowd walk 
amid a blaze of light and in ifine, taste all the happiness 
of the Christian festivals, which alone have evenings 
without weariness, and morrows without sadness. 

This feast will be one of my most delicious recollections. 
Sienna received me as one of her own children ; the Reli- 
gious of St. Dominic offered me the hospitality of other 
days, and all welcomed me like a brother come from a 
distant land. I had the place of choice in the house of 
St. Catharine and in the ranks of those who accom- 
panied her image ; I received the hallowed bread of her 
charity : and could contemplate her holy relics and even 
approach them with my lips. O Catharine, the prayer 
I then made you, I repeat anew, Be my mother and my 
patroness ! watch over all that my heart loves. Protect 
France, tried by so many misfortunes, and let her 
henceforth consecrate to the cause of truth all the energy 



424 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

and activity of her devotediiess. Defend Italy from the 
dangers that manace her faith ; Bless the city of Sienna 
the sweet land of thy nativity ; but above all pray for the 
Church by which all nations are to be saved. When 
still on earth, you predicted that after many calamities 
she would enjoy sunny days of prosperity. Since you 
were in heaven, has the Church experienced one day 
without trials and tempests ? Schism has rent it, scandals 
have outraged it, heresy has ravished her children ; the 
blood of martyrs has inundated Europe ; the policy of 
Princes has given her chains, knowledge, and denial ; 
genius has insulted her, the French Revolution levelled 
her Crosses, destroyed her Altars, and the Papacy has been 
captive and exiled : the Church would have perished but 
for the eternal promise of her invisible Head. But after 
the miracles of her combats, shall be seen the spectacle 
of her triumphs and of her glory ! 

Catharine ! thy soul bounded with a holy joy, w^hen 
perceiving in the future, prodigies of divine Mercy and 
the renovation of the Church by novel means. Thou 
didst lovingly salute those times in which the Church of 
Jesus Christ will appear in the world, in all the brilliancy 
of its virtues and its beauty. The nations shall rejoice 
at the sanctity of their pastors aud strayed sheep return in 
crowds to the sheep-fold. Catharine ! hasten by your 
prayers those better days and render us worthy by our 
faith, in the trials which we have yet to suffer. 



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On reading the lives of the Saints, the heart demands 
their portraits, and the most beautiful mission of Art is 
to satisfy this desire. The picture of a Saint is the rep- 
resentation of his soul : the Artist should therefore seek 
his inspirations in the meditation of their virtues, but he 
should also consult tradition, to discover, whether time 
has not respected the features which he intends to render, 
and whether there does not already exist some type con- 
secrated by the piety of the faithful. Truth can never 
be opposed to beauty ; sanctity transfigures the body, and 
the triumph of Christian art is to do what God himself 
will do on the day of the Resurrection : the bodies of the 
Just shall be glorified, deformities will disappear without 
annihilating resemblance, even faults will be resplendent 
with the tears of repentance, and with the tender mercies 
of the Saviour. 

It is generally believed that the beauty of St. Catharine 
was wholly interior, and this opii/ion is based upon the 
account given of her admission into the Third Order of 
St. Dominic. The Sisters of Penance only received aged 
persons, and they said they would by a sort of dispensa- 
tion admit Catharine if she were not too beautiful. But 

the Blessed Raymond also observes, that they could not 

36* 426 



426 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

form a correct judgment concerning her, because sickness 
had rendered her not easily recognized ; he says also, 
that her beauty had naught that was excessive. All her 
other disciples mention the radiance of her soul beamiug 
on her countenance — the most cruel sufferings could never 
disturb its joy and serenity. Every one was captivated 
with the winning sweetness of her smile. Friar Barthol- 
omew in his deposition, observes that the graces of her 
youth gave no trouble to her visitors, because they 
perceived in her the purity of the Angels. When describ- 
ing her last illness, the same witness says, that Catharine's 
body seemed to have been sun-dried, whilst it had always 
hitherto been really handsome. Gum conauevisset esse 
competenter formosum. 

The head of St. Catharine preserved at Sienna, 
furnishes but little indication ; it is of middling size, and 
of an oval form ; the eyes are closed, the mouth partially 
open ; the shrinking of the lips, discover teeth of pearly 
whiteness ; the general expression is full of calm and 
resigned majesty, and on it may be read the marks of the 
cruel sufferings which terminated her life. The almost 
natural color of her countenance accorded ill with the 
testimony of the Dominicans who wrote to the Bollandists 
in 1673 that the head of St. Catharine was withered and 
dried, and of a color obscure and almost black. I had it 
in my power to examine this very precious relic, and I 
remarked that the whole face was plastered over with a 
sort of pale rose color. This observation was confirmed 
by the testimony of the Chevalier Grotanelli, a distin- 
guished physician of Sienna. He was one of a scientific 
committee appointed a few years ago, to certify to the 
state of the relic, and he thinks that this species of paste 
was put on to repair the damages caused by the confla- 



ICONOGRAPHY OF ST. CATHARINE. 42t 

gration that ravaged the Church of St. Dominic in 1531, 
and reduced to ashes the body of the Blessed Ambrose 
Sansedoni, protector of the city. 

The most valuable monument of the iconography of St. 
Catharine, is the portrait said to have been drawn during 
her life-time by Andrew Vanni, her disciple. It is 
placed over the Chapel of the Third Order, in the Church 
of St. Dominic. The Saint in that picture is represented 
standing, holding a lily in her left hand, and touching 
with her right hand the lips of a young person kneeling 
before her. The face is thin and long, its expression 
sweet and virginal. I am not informed of the proofs of 
the authenticity of this portrait ; the branch of lilies that 
are seen in it, would seem to indicate a work accomplished 
after her death, it is evident at least, that this picture has 
been denaturalized by successive restorations some of 
which are very modern . 

The tradition of St. Catharine's features ought to have 
been easily preserved in Italy, on account of the public 
reverence of which she was the subject immediately after 
her death ; they painted her picture and her history in a 
great number of churches, under the eyes of her relatives 
and of her own mother : they could not, by departing 
from the resemblance contradict those numerous and 
faithful recollections. Friar Thomas, who had known 
Catharine from her infancy, had her frequently painted 
with such luminous rays as usually surround the heads of 
the Beatified but not canonized, although he had seen 
several represented with the aureolo of the Saints. Friar 
Thomas says that her image was spread throughout 
the whole christian world, that it was painted in every 
variety of style, in Poland, Hungary, Dalmatia, in 
Tuscany, Lombardy, Venice, and especially at Rome ; 



428 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OP SIENNA. 

whilst he was writing his deposition, they were forwarding 
pictures of the venerable Catharine even to Alexandria. 
** When they commenced, ''says he, ''to honor Catha- 
rine's memory in Venice, a person who entertained a 
particular devotion towards her, had her likeness repre- 
sented on cards, so as to spread it abroad with greater 
facility on the day of her feast. Many of the Pictures 
were placed in churches and surrounded with flowers. 
Thus all could enjoy and pay homage to the Saint, not 
only in public, but in their own houses. I am certain that 
since these portraits of the Blessed have been drawn, 
thousands have been made and are daily making ; there 
are vast numbers of them at Yenice, and in every portion 
of the (known) world. These pictures of Catharine 
suggested the idea of making on similar cards, images of 
other Saints for the churches of Yenice, the faithful could 
thereby procure them on their festivals and augment their 
piety by honoring them."* This text is a precious 
historical document ; it connects we may say, with the 
worship of Catharine, the origin of engraving on wood, 
and consequently that of printing. This method of mul- 
tiplying the images or pictures spoken of by the witness, is 
evidently a novel invention ; there is not question of 
painting them by hand on the paper, but of reproducing 
them ad infinitum. Playing cards preceded engraving 
on wood ; Yenice fabricated many of them and carried on 
a considerable trade in them. The process that was em- 
ployed for making those cards served to stamp the pictures 
of St. Catharine. The most ancient w^ood engraving, 
bearing a certain date, is the St. Christopher of the 



■^ Notabile circa materiam istam, etc. (Dom Martene, Proc. 
Ven. p, 1292. 



ICONOGRAPHY OP ST. CATHARINE. 429 

Library of Prints of Paris, it is dated 1423.* The 
deposition of Friar Thomas is of 1411, and in it is said 
that the pictures of Catharine were made at Venice, 
directly they began to celebrate her feast, that is to say 
in 1394 or 1395, since we read a few lines below, that it had 
been made during sixteen years in the Convent of St. 
John and St Paul. These pictures would therefore be. 
the first engravings on wood. Perchance, some of them 
have been spared by time, and are preserved in some 
collections of engravings or in some ancient manuscripts 
of the life or of the deeds of St. Catharine. 

A cotemporaneous painting of these prints exists at 
Kome. In the month of July, 1852, the Rev. P. Assaut, 
Prior of the Convent of the Dominicans at Paris, when 
visiting the ruins of the Church of St. Sixtus, discovered, 
behind the walls of the actual choir, the remnants of the 
Pictures which decorated the ancient vault. These 
paintings, unhappily injured by the scaffolding of more 
recent constructions, certainly belonged to the XIV. Cen- 
tury. Different scenes from the Gospel and from the lives 
of the Saints are there represented. On the right are 
extremely well preserved pictures of St. Paul, St. John 
the Baptist, of St. Dominic and of St. Peter, martyr. 
On the left, is seen our Blessed Lord, drawing from the 
wound in his side, a garment which he presents to St. 
Catharine who is in adoration before him. At her feet 
is painted, in smaller proportions, according to the custom 
of that date, the Nun who caused the picture to be exe- 



* Leber: Essai siir les cartes k jouer. — Emeric David : Histoire 
de la gravure. — Heineckeii : Idee generale d'une collection d'es- 
tampes. — Duchesne ain6 . Notice sur les estampes de la Biblio- 
theque. 



430 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

cuted, without doubt the Prioress of St. Sixtus. The 
head of the Saviour is very fine, that of St. Catharine 
breathes ecstatic sweetness, its features are delicate, the 
eves small, the nose slender, and the mouth exquisitely 
traced. Her veil is white, and her mantle black. She 
has not the aureolo of the Saints, but simply the rays of 
the Beautified, as remark the witnesses of the Process at 
Venice. This painting was evidently taken a short time 
after her death ; there must be pictures of Catharine 
similar to it in Rome. The Blessed Etienne Maconi 
informs us that the same vision was represented near her 
tomb. 

The Artist most worthy and most capable of painting 
St. Catharine of Sienna, was assuredly Fra Angelico de 
Fiesole. Born seven years after her death, he found her 
memory living in Tuscany. The Blessed John de Dom- 
inici, his Prior, and the Blessed Lorenzo de Ripa Fratta, 
his master of Novices, were cotemporaries of Catharine, 
and must have seen her at Pisa and at Florence, Fra 
Angelico lived with many Religious who had been her 
disciples, and he assisted at the annual festival in her 
honor. 

In the coronation of the Blessed Yirgin Mary, the only 
painting of Fra Angelico, possessed by the museum of 
the Louvre, I had remarked amid the group of Saints at 
the base of the throne, a countenance indicative of char- 
ming purity ; it is in profile, the hands spread in the 
attitude of ecstasy, I could not refrain from attaching to 
it the name of St. Catharine. 

In the public gallery of the Ofi&ces of Florence (Tuscan 
School, Hall No. 1.) there is another master-piece of Fra 
Angelico The composition has considerable reference 
to the one in the Louvre, only the scene breathes more of 



ICONOGRAPHY OF ST. CATHARINE. 431 

heaven ; all the personages are placed in clouds and amid 
waves of light. Our Lord, instead of crowning his 
Mother, simply adds a magnificent diamond to her radiant 
diadem. These two pictures must have been made at the 
same time, for the same Saints are found in them, with 
the same types and attributes. The face, which appeared 
to me to denote St. Catharine is found exactly re-pro- 
duced in the picture at Florence. 

The figure most in relation with those paintings, is the 
statue of St Catharine, which was found before the revo- 
lution, in the Dominican Convent of Poissy, and which is 
now in the Church of the Dominicans of Chalais. This 
statue is very ancient, and if it were not made before the 
canonization of the Saint, it must have directly succeeded 
it ; for it is anterior to the defence made by Sixtus lY. 
for representing St. Catharine with the stigmata ; the 
stigmata are marked on her feet and on her hands : her 
head is crowned with thorns, and her arms opened like 
those of the orantes in the catacombs. The head is very 
handsome, and resembles those of Fra Angelico and that 
of St. Sixtus. 

The attributes or characteristic signs of St. Catharine 
are the stigmata, the crown of thorns, the heart, a book, 
and a branch of lilies. 

The crown of thorns that is placed on the head of the 
Beatified Catharine recals the vision, in which our Lord 
oflfers her two crowns, one of gold enriched with precious 
gems, the other of woven thorns. St. Catharine chose 
the one that would render her most like to our Saviour 
on Earth. In the celebrated picture of Sassoferado, 
which decorated the Chapel of the Rosary at St. Sabines, 
the Infant Jesus is placing the crown of thorns on the 
head of St. Catharine. 



432 LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE OF SIENNA. 

The heart which St. Catharine holds, not only recals 
her burning charity, but also the vision in which our 
Lord granted her prayer, by renewing her heart. The 
lily is her sceptre of virginity. As to the book, it may 
signify, as in the case of other Saints, her fidelity in ac- 
complishing, and her zeal in teaching the Divine Law. 
It also reminds us of the miraculous manner in which St. 
Catharine learned to read. 

I might terminate these iconographical researches, by 
indicating the paintings and sculptures of St. Catharine, 
which I have remarked in the churches, and in the 
museums of France and of Italy, but this nomenclature 
would be of no utility. From the sixteenth century, tra- 
dition is interrupted, and the Artist is but an individual 
destitute of high pursuits in religious Art, and seeking 
without the bounds of pious inspiratiou the mere glorifi- 
cation of his talent. 

Facility in the use of the pencil, breadth of model, and 
richness of coloring can never suffice to express purity of 
soul, and the ardors, of heavenly ecstasy; when an Artist 
desires to depict the beauty of the Saints, he must first 
of all have recourse to Meditation and devout prayer. 



THE END. 



Jan 28 1861. 



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